Rating of
2.5/4
"The Gift" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 07/07/12
Sam Raimi tries his hand at M. Night Shyamalam territory in a supernatural thriller that sees a psychic haunted by images of the murdered girl whose police investigation she is aiding. Basically, it's The Dead Zone meets The Sixth Sense, but unfortunately it's as good as neither. The ensemble cast of quality character actors are uniformly good, especially Blanchett and Ribisi, and there is some stylishly effective J-horror inspired imagery from Raimi. But it's a bit TOO M. Night, as it suffers from the same drawbacks ie. the whodunnit element is FAR too obvious. Anyone with two braincells to rub together can guess who the killer is within about half an hour (I spent most of the film PRAYING it wouldn't be that obvious, but it was) and the Twilight Zone twist at the end is frankly irrelevant. But it is a well made chiller that's worth an hour and a half of anyone's time. Just don't expect to be amazed.
