Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Return


At first glance, "The Return" would seem to be another in the line of repetitive remakes of a more successful Asian horror film. The cover art certainly bears a resemblance to the omnipresent pale faced ghost with long, black hair. The film also stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (now sporting said black hair), who shoots a hat trick by following up "The Grudge" and "Grudge 2" with another spooky film. But, "The Return" isn't a remake nor is it truly a horror film. It also isn't very good movie. In fact, it's a paint-by-numbers affair wherein the filmmakers do everything superficially correct, but add no meat to the bones.

Gellar plays Joanna Mills, a traveling sales rep for a trucking firm. She enjoys being on the road constantly to ensure that the "bad things" don't ever catch up with her. The film opens with a young Joanna (Darrian McClanahan), who was recently in a car accident, accompanying her father, Ed (Sam Shepard), to a carnival. There, she is frightened by a strange, long-haired man in denim. Grown up, Joanna now lives in St. Louis and hasn't been home for a long time.

Joanna finally decides to return in order to win over a lucrative contract. She makes brief stops to visit her father and an old friend. Her return home also brings about odd visions and memories. While on the road, she comes across two crashed cars. The next morning, Joanna awakens in the middle of a field with no sign of any accident. These occurrences bring her to the small town of LaSalle, which she has vivid memories of, despite never being there before. She eventually finds a connection with Terry Stahl (Peter O'Brien), a man whose wife was murdered years ago. Stahl has been somewhat of a pariah in town since the killer was never caught and many point the finger at him.

While "The Return" isn't a remake of an Asian horror film, it does follow the formula of the lead character experiencing supernatural events and investigating their origins. Like the majority of Asian horror films, "The Return" does many things right when it comes to the visuals. Director Asif Kapadia made his feature-film debut with the highly-acclaimed, period adventure "The Warrior." Here, Kapadia does a fine job in creating the look of the film and composing some stylish shots. However, it just feels like he's read a Dummies Guide on how to make a thriller. One scene has Joanna hiding out in a darkened barn when a hand suddenly bursts through a wall desperately trying to grab at her. Yes, it's well done, but it's also a sequence that's been used countless times before.

The main problem lies in a script that feels incredibly paper thin. The characters are never fleshed out and it seems as if sections of the story were left out on the cutting room floor. Not surprisingly, the film clocks in at just under an hour and a half so it wasn't as if the movie was running long. The story is supposed to be about Joanna's world being turned upside-down, but we never get a sense of what her life is like beforehand. Thus, there's no tension. We don't know how things have changed in her life.

At first glance, "The Return" would seem to be another in the line of repetitive remakes of a more successful Asian horror film. The cover art certainly bears a resemblance to the omnipresent pale faced ghost with long, black hair. The film also stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (now sporting said black hair), who shoots a hat trick by following up "The Grudge" and "Grudge 2" with another spooky film. But, "The Return" isn't a remake nor is it truly a horror film. It also isn't very good movie. In fact, it's a paint-by-numbers affair wherein the filmmakers do everything superficially correct, but add no meat to the bones.

Gellar plays Joanna Mills, a traveling sales rep for a trucking firm. She enjoys being on the road constantly to ensure that the "bad things" don't ever catch up with her. The film opens with a young Joanna (Darrian McClanahan), who was recently in a car accident, accompanying her father, Ed (Sam Shepard), to a carnival. There, she is frightened by a strange, long-haired man in denim. Grown up, Joanna now lives in St. Louis and hasn't been home for a long time.

Joanna finally decides to return in order to win over a lucrative contract. She makes brief stops to visit her father and an old friend. Her return home also brings about odd visions and memories. While on the road, she comes across two crashed cars. The next morning, Joanna awakens in the middle of a field with no sign of any accident. These occurrences bring her to the small town of LaSalle, which she has vivid memories of, despite never being there before. She eventually finds a connection with Terry Stahl (Peter O'Brien), a man whose wife was murdered years ago. Stahl has been somewhat of a pariah in town since the killer was never caught and many point the finger at him.

While "The Return" isn't a remake of an Asian horror film, it does follow the formula of the lead character experiencing supernatural events and investigating their origins. Like the majority of Asian horror films, "The Return" does many things right when it comes to the visuals. Director Asif Kapadia made his feature-film debut with the highly-acclaimed, period adventure "The Warrior." Here, Kapadia does a fine job in creating the look of the film and composing some stylish shots. However, it just feels like he's read a Dummies Guide on how to make a thriller. One scene has Joanna hiding out in a darkened barn when a hand suddenly bursts through a wall desperately trying to grab at her. Yes, it's well done, but it's also a sequence that's been used countless times before.

The main problem lies in a script that feels incredibly paper thin. The characters are never fleshed out and it seems as if sections of the story were left out on the cutting room floor. Not surprisingly, the film clocks in at just under an hour and a half so it wasn't as if the movie was running long. The story is supposed to be about Joanna's world being turned upside-down, but we never get a sense of what her life is like beforehand. Thus, there's no tension. We don't know how things have changed in her life.

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