Inherently Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (2 July 2006)

****DOES contain spoilers. 2nd warning****
Hostel was never meant to be a great movie. It's B-grade pulp on the same level as Saw, and for the first 2/3 of the picture, I disliked it nearly as much as that movie - though, to be fair Saw's greatest failings (acting, cinematography, direction, editing & writing) aren't AS evident here. The cast is fine & mostly convincing, the editing is brilliant & when the story comes around, it's better than mediocre. The story, however, is my main beef (though not my only one). shocking, brutalitarian films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre work because after a brief introduction, the movie gets to work shocking & grossing out the audience for the next hour or so. Hostel gets bogged down showing the main character's obnoxious European sex adventure, without the requisite atmosphere - it's just a drunken European adventure. Eventually we're given hints that something is wrong and then - whoop! - someone goes missing, then all hell breaks loose for a bit, but without much gravity. Even worse, we aren't given the right clues as to what we're supposed to be thinking or guessing about the plot: our group agreed that we all hated the bulk of the movie because the evident story was about a wealthy, crazy man who has paid a war-torn village to get boys for him to torture. It's not until the 3rd act that we find out the far more clever & shocking facts. Is this on purpose? A good twist ties up fascinating & perplexing elements in a film (i.e. Sixth Sense), but this movie is just stupid until you are told, bluntly, what is going on. It's not a twist as much as a clarification, and I don't really think it was meant as either. We're supposed to know that it's somewhat random chance that Josh is tortured by the same man as they meet on the train (rather than, as we assumed, the man had intended Josh all along). So the movie succeeds, sort of, eventually. But even then, there are still major flaws. Makeup effects were nearly on the level of old Troma films, where I think the film industry is currently capable of convincing effects, either in make up, or in digital post production. The corpses that Paxton hides under appear to weigh a few pounds & bounce in a silly way. The Japanese girl appears to wear a taffy eye-patch (and why in hell DOES Paxton cut off her eye?!?). The plot holes (undxerstandable in any corny horror flick) are so completely stupid, you have to wonder if there might have been a less-lame hole that could have been written in. The most annoying element is the supposed "payoff" of the main torture scene: it's just too much. It's not entertainment. There is minimal build up, it's hard to watch, and then it's over. The director has used his strongest scene up, and the movie dosn't benefit much. Tarantino's involvement brings up an obvious comparison to the similar scene in Reservoir Dogs, when the ear gets cut off. Arguably not as shocking, yet dramatically stronger. Josh's fear is plausible, his agony nauseating. Yet once I knew what was going on (the business end of the situation, the Slovakina mafia apparently running the scam, the local involvement) there is an air to the film that is satisfyingly odd & unsettling. Unfortunately, it is an unsalvageable mess by then. There is a good movie here, but the writer/director just can't quite get it out.