Shawn's Pathology Review

2008 Movie #87 - Pathology

I was disappointed when this movie only opened in something like 100 screens because it was one I was genuinely interested in seeing after hearing the premise and watching the trailer. I’m always one for a gory good time at the movies. I certainly got the gory, it’s just the good time wasn’t so much there.

This one could be chalked up to my own fault. I don’t know why but I honestly thought this movie was going to be a lot more of a dark comedy than it was. The trailer didn’t really give off that vibe so I don’t know what made me think it, but that thought was always there, right up until watching it. Maybe it’s because it’s by the people who did Crank, I don’t know. Either way this movie features very little comedy but is pretty much pitch black from beginning to end. That’s not really a problem (I of course gave Funny Games a good review), but there were just enough problems with the movie that I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it more than I did.

The premise behind the movie is still pretty awesome, and for the most part is executed well. My main problem was with the characters, but more specifically the main character. He has one of the quickest turn arounds I think in the history of all of cinema. In the beginning he is shown as someone who is a straight A student, loving fiancée and overall decent guy. Man, it doesn’t take much to turn this guy into a crack addicted murderer. It only takes slightly more than someone saying to him “hey man, smoke this crack and murder some people.” As a result, I had a hard time watching his character. So that’s a lot of movies in a row with main characters that are hard to root for.

This movie certainly brings the gore, but it’s not really in an Evil Dead over the top sense. Some of it is pretty messed up. The whole movie is very bleak with a very negative outlook of humanity, which isn’t really bad because I too have a very negative outlook at humanity, a viewpoint you will soon be reading about if there is any justice in this world.

So the movie certainly isn’t boring, it just could have been better. The story is pretty interesting but the characters ruin a huge part of the movie I think.

** ½ / 5