Rating of
1/4
"Yes, it's a Game." --- No! No Game!
MoviesForMo - wrote on 03/16/10
Now, any film with a reference to a game right in the dialogue makes me squirm with hate. I've never liked movies where the killer comes out at the beginning with "oh, this is a game by the way, hope you don't care, haha". Movies like that aren't really thrilling, and most of the time, if they're categorized as a thriller, they're filled with blood, over-dramatic music, and a secret that the viewer knows, but no one else in the movie does because they're oblivious or retarded. 'Pathology' was, to my dismay, exactly like those movies, with unrealistic characters, poor story line, uneventful dialogue, and a horrible choice of music.
With a pathetic twist, we'll start with the poorly run-down story. Ted, the protagonist, has the horrible fate of being in the wrong place and the wrong time, or, sadly, being offered the worst job imaginable. This is because his work mates kill for a part of a game. The idea for this game is to get away with the perfect murder. As said on the Netflix package, "... his fellow interns have designed a gruesome contest to commit the perfect untraceable murder, while also competing to see who can determine the cause of death". To say the story was even remotely interesting would be telling the truth, but just barely escaping the fabrics of a lie. I liked the idea, but the way the movie was told was poorly done, and the idea just fell to pieces.
Even worse than the story, however, was the characters. Ted, the only character I rooted for the entire story, was very realistic at the beginning, but lost realism around the thirty minute mark when he decided, for no reason at all, to join the game that his co-workers were pulling him into. From there, his character only grew worse, and in the end, I felt he gave me no assurance that anything was close to real in the movie. The other characters were even worse than he was, because they all had this undying god-complex that lasted through out the entire film. They treated each other like toys and, in the end, left me practically begging for better characters.
On thing I did like, which is unfortunately the only thing, was the effects. The blood and organs in the film looked very realistic and gave the film an interesting horror aspect. Plus, there were moments in the film that gave my stomach a churning feeling when certain parts came up, but those parts were rare, maybe once or twice during the movie, and left me wanting an actual plot when these scenes ended.
Really, because I like people that read my work and reviews, I'm going to save you some trouble and tell you not to see this film. At all. If someone tells you it's good, skip it. It's not worth the hour and a half that the movie is long, and everything that the movie has to offer will only make you dread seeing the film in the first place. Just do yourself a favor.
