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RUINS (***) |
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Movie Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Directed by: Carter Smith
Written by: Scott B. Smith, adapted from his novel: "The Ruins"
Starring: Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Jena Malone
Running time: 91 minutes
Released: 04/04/08
Rated R for strong violence and
gruesome images, language, some sexuality and nudity. |
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"Fans of the book should
know that there are liberties taken because the ending
of the book is dark whereas here they went for the
Hollywood ending"
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When a studio doesn’t screen a film for
critics then is usually means that the film sucks and they are
trying to get as much money as they can on the opening weekend with
the hope that the film makes money on DVD. The Ruins had a large
pre-release budget and the TV ads mention the Stephen King man-love
for the Scott Smith novel but the Friday papers didn’t have a
review. There wasn’t a review in the Saturday paper either so when I
had time to see a movie the lack of review weighed heavy in my mind.
But lately my movie going habits depend on timing and making the
connections so when I found myself right near the theater I gambled
and this time I won the gamble by seeing this effective thriller.
Scott Smith’s first novel was the effective A Simple Plan and that
was adapted to good effect by Sam Raimi in 1998. Smith took some
time off before writing The Ruins, a novel that told of college
students who find themselves trapped on a temple that is occupied by
a killer plant. The book was a great summer read (which I have but
haven’t gotten to) that naturally attracted movie studios and
curiously, actor Ben Stiller.
As the film begins we meet Eric (Smallville’s Shawn Ashmore), his
girlfriend Stacy (Laura Ramsey), med student Jeff (Jonathan Tucker)
and his girlfriend Amy (Jena Malone) at the pool on a resort in
Mexico. As they sit and drink they meet Mathias (Joe Anderson), who
tells them he is going off in the morning to rejoin his brother, who
abandoned him for a cute female archaeologist exploring an ancient
Mayan ruin. Amy isn’t interested but goes along as does Dimitri (Dimitri
Baveas).
After convincing a taxi to take them to a place that he tells them
“is bad” they walk up a covered trail and find the ruins of a temple
and are immediately surrounded by armed local Mayans. Naturally, the
Mayans do not speak English but are very upset about something. The
lack of understanding leads to a death and forces the others to run
up the vine-covered temple for what they assume will be safety.
Once the party gets up the mountain they find the remains of the
camp but no one there. We and they hear a cell phone ringing down a
shaft and Mathias goes down the shaft but falls and breaks his back.
As Stacy is sent down to try to get him we get the first hint that
something isn’t right and the natives are down below making
themselves at home. Amy goes down and that’s when things get weirder
because we learn where the cell phone sound is coming from and
believe me, it’s scary.
From that point on we learn that the plants are alive and live on
blood so with the five on the temple it’s a buffet if they bleed or
get cut. As we learn in the trailer Stacy has them inside her and
that combined with the damaged legs of Mathias creates quite a
creepy factor that often induces cringe worthy moments.
The acting is pretty good here with Tucker giving a strong
performance as the guy who has to take charge and figure out what’s
going on. His performance suggests that he could play a young Batman
or Green Lantern. Ramsey has the role of being the person who has to
deteriorate (after showing her chest in the first 20 minutes so that
male viewers can mourn the loss of her rack) gradually after being
infected and she does that well. Malone (the veteran of the cast)
and Ashmore aren’t bad either with Ashmore taking on the look of a
beach bum. Anderson does well here in a role that has him on his
back for the bulk of the film.
Fans of the book should know that there are liberties taken because
the ending of the book is dark whereas here they went for the
Hollywood ending. The fact that the antagonist is a plant doesn’t
help the film because there are no “I did this because I am crazy
moments” so we just have to connect with the actors so we can feel
sorry for them. Carter Smith doesn’t do a bad job here and shows
promise as a director. I would expect this film to do well on DVD
but the fact that they didn’t screen it makes no sense because it
would have done better if enough critics saw it. |
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THE RUINS
© 2008 DreamWorks/Paramount
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2008 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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