The only thrill this movie gives, is when it's over...

Rating: 3/10 (6 March 2006)

****MAJOR SPOILERS**** Where do I start with this movie? The sad thing is, that much like the movie "Identity" this movie could have been good, but the idea just did not make the translation into the movie.
This movie went from tolerable to ridiculous in only a short amount of time.
The movie starts out creepy enough. Two men Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell who was also one of the writers) wake up to find themselves in a dirty, abandoned bathroom.
OK, so far so good as they start finding "clues" to how they are supposed to get out of the room. Sounds like a classic thriller, but too bad "sounding" like one, was as close as it got.
There are so many things wrong with this movie that maybe it would just be simpler to list them instead of trying to view the positive aspects like I normally do.
1. Why is it that cops tell someone not to move or they will be shot, and yet when the person does move, the cop repeats the order over and over? Danny Glover (Detective David Trapp) had the "killer" in his sights, told him not to move and not only does the killer move (yet Danny Glover does not shoot him) but the killer manages to nearly mortally wound him.
2. How about this one...the lessons that each of the characters were supposed to be learning. OK, sounds great...someone out to teach mankind a lesson. Not so great because it was never clear what at least two of the "victims" were supposed to learn lessons for! For example...Zep Hindle (Michael Emerson) was a kindly orderly in the hospital where Cary Elwes worked. He did not care for how Dr. Gordon treated the patients (how he referred to them in that typical cold, doctorly manner instead of as human beings with feelings) so doesn't that make him a good guy? If not, what was his lesson to be learned by ending up poisoned and attempting to kill Dr. Gordon's family at the killer's behest? And Adam, the guy in the room with Dr. Gordon...what was his lesson? Don't follow people? Don't listen to cops? It would be nice to know why he was being punished. However if someone as seemingly kindly as poor old Zep could be punished then obviously it doesn't take much to need "punishment" in the killer's eyes.
3. Why is it that when victims get a gun away from the killer, they don't shoot him? If a man had threatened to kill me the way Zep did Lawrence's wife Alison (Monica Potter) and my child, and I managed to get the gun away from him, they would need to shovel his brains off the floor, end of story. Instead, Alison looks over at her kid (Makenzie Vega...who has been whining ever since Zep tied them up) who is crying, like this was the first peep she had made. So, what happens? Zep gets the gun back from her.
4. Oh and someone please answer me this...how can someone survive a shotgun blast to the back? Am I just behind on how lethal shotguns are? Yep, the killer gets shot in the back and yet gets up and runs. I want that kind of power for my next birthday...
5. I also did not understand this and doubt I ever will. The killer was kind enough to supply the men with a cell phone...one that takes inbound calls only. Dr. Gordon is on the phone with his wife while Zep is toying with them. After Alison Gordon wrestled with Zep for the gun, she and her daughter managed to get away from him. OK fine. Not knowing what had happened to them, not knowing where he was and having no clue how he is going to get home, Dr. Gordon then decides to saw his leg off so he can get home to them. Does that bother anyone except me? News flash...being a doctor, you should know that if you bleed to death before you can make it out of the building...as he was already pale and dying before he even made it out of the room...you're not going to be any help to anyone. I also doubt that the killer would conveniently have a car waiting there for him either.
Probably the two biggest kickers for me though and what ended up totally being a slap in the face for anyone with a modicum of intelligence, was how a man (Tobin Bell...who ends up being the true killer by the way) could lie "dead" on the floor for the entire movie and yet neither man (including one who is a doctor) can't tell that he is breathing. I haven't met a person yet who could make it look like they weren't breathing. The fact that a doctor, a surgeon no doubt as Lawrence stated he was; could not tell that the man was breathing is disturbing.
And lastly...how was Tobin Bell (who had been lying in the hospital, dying at that, with an inoperable brain tumor just scenes before) able to get up, leave the hospital without his doctor knowing it...you guessed it, his doctor is Dr. Gordon one of our hapless victims...and plan all of this out, let alone execute it in his "weakened" condition? My suggestion...if you like movies that don't make you think, then this is the movie for you. But if you are looking for a true thriller, this is one better left alone...
The only thrill you will get...is when it is over.