Very Dissapionted, read on to find out why...

Rating: 1/10 (12 March 2006)

When i first looked at the trailer of this film, and from what i had heard, i was quite excited to view what looked like an exciting fantasy/monster style film. The other thing that enticed me was that Joaquin Phoenix was starring in the film. Okay, so the fist half an hour drew me into the film with promises of tension, suspense, fantasy and the craziness that i yearn for.
We meet various characters including a blind girl who can see "Aura's" around the people she associates with. We also meet Joaquin Phoenix's character, the stud/down to earth guy who you assume will be the one who battles these demons of the woods. excited? so was I.
I find this review very difficult to do without spoiling the film so excuse me, but it all needs to be said.
We'll start with the Aura seeing blind girl. Now, if this was a fantasy, as i had initially thought. Then a blind girl viewing peoples Aura's would be all very well and good. But this film is not set in a fantasy world. It is set in the very real and very normal present world. A world where blind people do not see auras, in fact, blind people generally see nothing. Now if the Auras were the only thing that annoyed me, i would not even think of mentioning it. But the stark moment of stupidity for me, was when this blind girl runs through a forest, not once, but twice. yes blind (thought i would just punch that one home for the next part). Okay so a blind girl running through a forest, may not sound easy, but plausible... i agree. In this case... no. She runs at break neck speed through the forest, surprisingly missing the various millions of trees she encounters. in my mind, not possible. OK, so on the first journey she nearly falls down a hole. But to add insult to injury, on a long journey through a forest going in one direction, she manages to remember where the hole is in the opposite direction so that she stops right in front of it to trap her mysterious pursuer. I have met blind people and yes, they know their house inside out and can manage to find there way round using various techniques. But if any one of them were to run recklessly through a forest, i guarantee that they would at the very least trip on a branch or scratch themselves to hell.
So what more could infuriate me about this film? The star of the film in my eyes was Joaquin Phoenix, and in many ways was one of the only reasons i watched this film. So it shocked and greatly displeased me, when after only a short time, his part in the film was extinguished. I wont say what happens, but it caused me to verbally (quite loudly actually) express my great displeasure in the cinema... In my eyes, you don't kill off the star of the film in the first 20 minutes of the film, unless you bring him back from the dead. The only person who was holding this film together. tut tut.
Imagine this, you are a 20-30 year old red blooded male growing up in a village that is haunted by creatures that lurk in the woods. Although it is made very clear to you that the woods are dangerous, you have noticed that everyone is very much alive, and no-one has died. Well, no one has died from being brutalised by hell bound creatures of the dark. If there is one thing you can count on in human nature, it is curiosity. Curiosity is what makes characters in horror movies walk up the stairs leaving their safe exit from the house, so that they might at least know what knifed their boyfriend/girlfriend to death. So i find it hard to believe that they have had this village for so long, yet none of the proud male (or female even, i'm not being sexist so don't even start)... i dunno, start a revolution against the evilness that submerges the forest.
To explain the next part and not ruin the plot is impossible. Someone gets hurt badly in the village. Out of everyone in the village (population being... oh i dunno, around 100 or so) they pick a blind girl (sigh) to journey through a forest to get some medicine from a wildlife ranger style hut based near the borders of the area. Now... OK, someone is hurt, fair enough... you would want to help. The plain and simple truth is, why on earth did the people who originally thought up and created their idea of a self sustaining village that does not have the influence of the evil £/$, not think to bring the basic essentials... IE medicine. People will get ill and people will injure themselves. separating people from external forces forcefully is one thing, keeping them there by scaring them with stories of monsters is quite another. But to create a society with no external influence, without thinking to bring the vital components such as antibiotics and the likes, is unforgivable.
I have gone on and i'm not sure how many people will even see this review, let alone listen to what i have to say. However, truth be told, i needed to get it out of my system as i feel like i have wasted hard earned cash on this film. its not much, but money is money and i would have much preferred to buy some paint to watch it dry than to witness this travesty to cinema. See the film and make your own opinion, adiós.