Masterpiece? Not quite. . .

Rating: 4/10 (1 April 2012)

I rented this flick, and was really excited, thinking I was gonna watch a classic. What a load of garbage. This was a waste of 3 hours of my life. OK, so Jack Nicholson did a good job in the lead. So what? The script was a disorganized mess that made WAY too much use of foreshadowing. You can't really use spoilers in reviewing this movie, because it spoils itself so much: much of the first half of the movie consists of clips of several scenes you see in the second half. The foreshadowing used absolutely destroyed any suspense/horror that would have existed for me (I can't be scared of it if I know it's coming).
Next there's the music track: I'd like to say it consists of several great pieces of music that adequately set the tone for the scenes they accompany. Nothing could be further from the truth. Half of the instruments used I couldn't recognize and most of the musical effects seemed pointless.
Finally there's the acting. As I mentioned above, Jack Nicholson's performance was superb. He's the only reason I don't give this movie a 1. The other characters? Except for the little boy, they were used as cardboard cutouts, and most of them acted that way. Even Scatman Crothers couldn't save the other acting performances: his considerable acting talent was underused.
In short, not a classic. Just a gore-fest wanna-be dressed up as a masterpiece, and WAAAAY overrated.
I give it a 4, for Nicholson's performance.