eXistenZ Movie Information

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Movie Information

Overall Rank: 5915

Average Rating: 2.6/4

# of Ratings: 93

Theatrical Release Date: 04/23/1999

Language: English

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

MPAA Rating: R

Director: David Cronenberg

Actors: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe, Don McKellar, Sarah Polley

Plot: A state-of-the-art virtual reality game becomes all too real for its creator and her naive PR man as reality and fantasy shift and collide in a deadly serious game.

Indyfreak - wrote on 11/18/2021

Relentlessly strange thriller that is reminiscent of The Matrix but featuring David Cronenberg's penchant for queasy body horror. The plot is frustrating because it doesn't start to make sense until you're halfway through it and then it shifts gears in unexpected ways. Jennifer Jason Leigh is good in the lead as the game designer trying to stay ahead of corporate assassins while trying to survive her own VR game. Jude Law is equally good as her bewildered sidekick who changes his role in the story on a dime. Almost like a video game. It's irritating but it's not boring.

Logan D. McCoy - wrote on 06/21/2019

"eXistenZ" is original for its unalluring depiction of virtual reality and technology.

Moviehead - wrote on 04/01/2012

Good story, great atmosphere, intense and of course ending

Daniel Corleone
Movie God

eXistenZ review

Daniel Corleone - wrote on 10/28/2012

eXistenZ tackles the idea of reality vs. virtual reality, God as the ultimate creator, unethical competition of corporations, destruction of realism and our part in playing the biggest game of all called life. One of Cronenberg's most satisfying and entertaining films produced. A sci-fi thriller coupled with mysterious comical elements to make it viewable. Antenna Research's Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the world's greatest game designer. She informs her geek PR/security Ted Pikul (Jude Law) about the nature of the games she creates and wonders why he hasn't played any. After entering a game, the pair encounters Gas (Willem Dafoe), who aids in placing a bio-port for Ted. Clever premise with some surprising humor coming from the director. Well paced though the soundtrack …

Yojimbo
Movie God

"Existenz" by Yojimbo

Yojimbo - wrote on 07/02/2012

Taking up where Videodrome left off, eXistenZ once more tackles the subject of the human condition and it's relationship with the media. The main problem with it is that the plot is so divorced from reality that it has no logical progression, just a serious of events that have no narrative cohesion. This destroys any drama or suspense it may have had. Not only that but the twist at the end is so blatantly obvious to anyone who has seen more than 3 sci-fi movies in their life that it will inevitably disappoint (although Cronenberg was obviously aware of this, and added a final line that does raise a smile.) As a whole it seemed like a pale imitation of a Cronenberg movie rather than one of his own and it suffers in comparison (to Videodrome in particular.) Not terrible, but In The Mouth …

CJP
Producer

60%

CJP - wrote on 10/11/2008

Action: 1.5 / 3, Comedy: 0.5 / 2, Good vs Evil: 0.5 / 1, Love/Sex: 1 / 1, Special Effects: 0.5 / 1, Plot: 1 /1, Music: 1 / 1 = 6/10 or 60%.

Certain concepts within eXistenZ are ahead of their time for it's 1999 release. Most notably the participants within the game that, after being defeated, simply watch the others play (this is also the role of the viewer). Modern websites that allow one to watch other gamers duel mold this theme into an oddly familiar one. The superior visual concept within the film are the game controllers, called game pods, which are partially constructed of amphibian organs and contain umbilical wires that jack into spines.

Cronenberg uses the controllers to offer compelling analogies of online gaming realities and their effect upon the real world. …