| |
 |
|
|
Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: The Ruins (2008)
Page 1 of 1
|
| Author |
Message |
| Guest |
 Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:02 pm |
|
|
|
|
The Ruins
reviewed by Sam Osborn of The Movie Mammal.com
Attractive, American, and reasonably dumb, four upperclassmen college
students are spending a week's vacation hitting the sands and
margaritas of Mexico. They're a couple of couples, best friends Amy
and Stacy (Jena Malone and Laura Ramsey) with their boyfriends, Jeff
and Eric (Jonathan Tucker and Shawn Ashmore). The four decide to spend
their last day wearing more than bikinis to follow their new German
friend, Mathias (Joe Anderson), out to an archeological Mayan dig
site. A bus, a taxi, and a four mile hike later, they emerge from the
jungles whiny and amazed, standing before an enormous, ancient
pyramid. But out from the jungle pounce the natives wielding bows and
revolvers, chasing the Americans to the top of their pyramid and
quarantining them to the evils that hide within their ruins.
The film rights to Scott B. Smith's novel, The Ruins, were optioned
before even it was released. Such a pre-sale makes us wonder whether
anybody bothered to read the book before greenlighting it as a
Hollywood project. It's a fine read--odd and original in its terse,
suspiciously script-like prose--but maybe not the stuff of mulitplexes
and popcorn.
The evil lurking within the pyramid actually turns out to be some
carnivorous plant life. And though gardening is certainly a hobby that
strikes fear into my own heart, it's maybe not what we'd expect from a
monster at the movies. These vines don't jump or bite. They don't leap
out of the dark or wield knives. They instead creep (grow?) towards
you in your sleep, burrowing and twisting about your skin, ravaging
your body from the inside out.
Such is the case when Stacy, the busty, more rational blonde, wakes to
find a vine has grown through her shin. Still trapped atop the
pyramid, the group now realizes the reason for their quarantine.
Infection from the vine is inevitable, and their escape unlikely.
Though casting for the roles of "four moderately resourceful Americans
to be devoured by evil plant" could have fallen toward the wayside of
physical appearance and gratuitous nudity, Director Carter Smith and
his Casting Director made some inspired decisions in whom they chose
to be botanically eaten. Jonathan Tucker--most notably remembered as
the lead in NBC's ill-fated serial drama "The Black Donnellys"--plays a
fervent, sensitive med student (emphasis on the word "student"),
making decisions to amputate limbs and perform impromptu surgery with
a hunting knife. Jena Malone as Amy, his girlfriend, reacts
believably, if obnoxiously, to these gruesome undertakings, whining
even as her friend Stacy contorts into a psychotic, bleeding mess.
The gore sprayed and dripped and pooled with these surgical scenes is
the usual--and annoying--preoccupation of The Ruins. Meant to work as
a reaction to the psychological stress enacted by the infected Stacy,
the scenes instead work mostly in cringe factor. Mr. Smith tries his
best to mount unease over his gangly, flowered vines, but is
repeatedly forced to resort to gore for his scares. The slow and
psychological defeat of a group of humans to a plant is not right
scratch for our horror film itch. It may have worked on the page,
where the inner workings of a character can be sketched and arched
high over many chapters, but on celluloid it's just a wiggling bush
and some amputated legs.
-TheMovieMammal.com
The Ruins: Directed by Carter Smith. Screenplay by Scott B. Smith
(based on his novel). Starring Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker, Shawn
Ashmore, Laura Ramsey. Rated R. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
|
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:24 pm
|
|