Thanks for checking out our “The Eye” review. It’s all the rage in Hollywood in recent years to take vastly superior asian horror films, and remake them into vastly inferior North American versions. The Grudge. The Ring. Dark Water. The Ring 2. Yadda yadda yadda. I’m all for remakes if they’re done well, so I was more than open to the idea of a remake of “The Eye”. So did this remake fair any better than the others? No, it didn’t.
THE GENERAL IDEA
Jessica Alba plays a symphony orchestra violinist who, in a tragic accident, lost her eyesight when she was a little girl and has been blind ever since. However, she gets the opportunity to receive a double eye transplant in order to see again. A donor set of eyes become available and she gets the procedure. The operation is a total success and soon Alba can see again. However, she also begins to see dark, nightmarish and unnatural things that just can’t be real. Is she going insane? Is she peering into another world? By the end of the movie does anyone really care?
THE GOOD
If you’re a comedy, you can fail at almost everything else, but at least be funny and you’ll be watchable. If you’re an action film, you can fail at almost everything else, but at least be exciting and you’ll be watchable. And obviously, if you’re a horror movie, at least be scary and you’ll be watchable… and on this level “The Eye” succeeds at time. There are a number of moments in the film that are legitimately creepy and eerie. Where most North American horror films rely on “BOO!” and shock type scares, The Eye does a good job of utilizing atmosphere and environment to achieve its dark goals. I admit I jumped out of my seat a couple of time and just downright spooked a few times too.
THE BAD
After you get past the promising premise, the film has next to nothing going for it. The story is thin to non-existant, the resolution of the film is very weak and makes next to no sense… and this all leaves you with a major sense of dis-satisfaction as you realize the whole movie was basically taking you down a road that doesn’t end up leading you anywhere good. It’s like mom and dad telling you their taking you to a great place, you drive for 6 hours… your anticipation builds… only to discover that you got taken to that fat aunt’s place you hate so much.
Everyone likes to jump up and down and slam Jessica Alba’s acting ability (or lack thereof), so I hesitate to jump on that bandwagon… but it really has to be said: Jessica Alba can not act. Alba is a delightful person, very friendly, very nice, and the type of person you really want to cheer for… but after seeing her “performance” in The Eye I’m left with nothing left to be positive about. Listening to her narrate at the beginning and end of the film was like hearing a 5th grader reading from a giant cue card in the school play. Nothing about her performance even came close to being convincing, and every time she spoke you were painfully aware that she just doesn’t belong up there.
OVERALL
The Eye is a poor movie that is almost salvaged by the fact that there are some honest to goodness scary moments in the film. However, there aren’t enough to make up for a badly told, and poorly acted story that ended up having no where to go. Alba continues to prove she does not work or belong as a lead in any film that dose not end with the words “…Does Dallas” Overall I give “The Eye” a 4 out of 10.
