Gothika (2003)
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Miranda is a psychiatrist who has just been interred in the same asylum she’s been in working in. Seems when the police arrived at her residence, they found the body of her husband mutilated, all clues pointing to her as the murderer and her not exactly in control of her faculties. Now that she’s a patient, she’s gonna try and solve the murder but alas, no one believes her story. With all her friends now on the other side of the glass, she’ll do anything to get to the truth and there’s a few ghosts who are trying to make sure she doesn’t get there. . . . (spoilers) . . . . . . . . Overall: It’s not a bad film per se but there’s a lot going on and much of it is basically a merging of “Kiss the Girls” and “Stir of Echoes.” Decent cast of Dorian Harewood, Penelope Cruz, Charles Dutton, Robert Downey Jr. and Halle Barry, Let me rattle off what’s wrong with the movie. Firstly, when a former police officer is sent to prison, the prison officials would separate them from the rest of the prison population and so they should have done the same with this prison shrink. Not believable in that regard. Also, there seems little question as to who killed Doug (it was Miranda) but always goes back to “why.” Once we find out, then we can buy the fact she killed him but she only did so because she was possessed by the little girl. But how did she become possessed as opposed to anyone else? She had no clue what Doug’s secret was. And why did they let her just "walk" later on, given that she did kill him? Also, in truth we understand a tinge as to why Chloe was being raped but frankly her entire character doesn’t lead Miranda any closer to figuring out who killed the girl or why she killed Doug...granted it did indicate the fact of who one bad guy was the same guy raping Chloe, but Phil’s admissions of dreams was just as good too. Frankly by the end I expected Chloe to be connected to the girl...and she isn’t. And another scene that really made no sense...why did the security guard, Don, give Miranda the keys to his car? There is practically no scenes involving the 2 of them that would allow the audience to buy the connection there – in fact, the character of Pete would have made more sense. And why was Chloe released? She’s a convicted murderer and admits it…how did she get to go free too? And what’s up with the ending...look like any film that Haley Joel Osment was in? I am still wondering what the title and the film have to do with each other. E-mail me if you know. Comparison: Stir of Echoes meets Kiss the Girls |
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