Reviews

Once again we have a movie where group of late teens gather to an abandoned house to play murder-game (called "Backstabbed"). There's also your usual serial killer loose in the neighborhood and the house in question has some vague history. So, this movie isn't going to break any new grounds. However, even though the format is too well-known, the direction is quite well done here. The suspense is kept at high level throughout the movie, unlike many similar movies that have dull moments. Some scenes even resemble the works of such masters of this genre like Mr Hitchcock.

So I give this 6/10 (or *** out of *****).

Oh well. Tour-de-force of special effects, some of which were good (although none were original), but surprisingly, some of which were embarrassingly bad (e.g. the helicopter chases and F-18 jets...). The plot is so thin that it shouldn't even be mentioned. It almost seems like the whole point of this movie was to do some kind of we-can-do-jurassic-park-too technological masturbation. I just don't get it. This movie has already (even with same english title) been done some dozens of times in Japan (and Jurassic Park II wasn't too far from it either), so why bother? It's not like we have run out of ORIGINAL ideas and REAL plots... It takes just a little courage to do something different, so just do it and stop giving us this rubbish, thank you. 3/10.

I find it funny that many people here are mad and asking why this film was made. To ask that question is the point of this movie, so you kind of got it after all. Why would someone make such a sickening movie that contains child abuse and revolting violence. And why would anyone watch it. Exactly! Message understood. However, the complete lack of plot and the very methodical and finger-pointed way of giving the message drop my rating to 7/10.

I never heard of this movie before watching it, and what a pleasant surprise it was! At the same time this movie is scary and thought provoking. Fortunately this one is not made in the usual over-the-top special effects and fast plot style of Hollywood. Instead in this movie the suspense is built slowly and in the end you really *care* for the main character.

I also liked the ending. It left me thinking of my own desire to see violence on screen. Recommended if you like well done, well acted, slow paced thrillers with a message. 9/10.

I don't know whether they give Oscars for casting, but if that is the case, the person responsible for casting for this film must be at least a nominee. I'm just amazed how such established actresses as Lange and Paltrow have been agreed to take part in this 'plot is thinner than silk-paper'-film (blackmailing? ;->). Every scene is predictable and the story itself has been told thousand times. There aren't any camera-angles that make you say 'wow, nobody thought of that before' either, so the end-result is very average. I'm all too aware about the existence of bad mother-in-laws, so this one just didn't cut it for me... 3 out of 10.

After somewhat interesting first half an hour, the movie degrated into the usual Hollywood pro-United States of America propaganda. What I'd like to know is; do you guys really buy this stuff? I mean, this was not supposed to be parody, was it?

So, the plot was thin and acting wasn't too good either. I even thought that Costner (who usually is quite good) wasn't at ease with his character. The movie would've felt "tighter" had it been a lot shorter as there were many periods during which nothing happened.

There were some nice scenes and individual shots, but this whole idea of having a sort of "mini-second civil war" in 21st century post-apocalyptic world (or rather USA) was silly to say the least. 3/10.