Side Effects: "One pill can change your life!"

I Just went to see Side Effects. It’s a psychological thriller, lets face it: it was going to happen. So it’s Directed by Steven Soderbergh who also directed Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve. So you know that you’re getting something that’s fast-paced and gripping. Jude Law’s in it and so is Catherine Zeta-Jones and the less famous Rooney Mara who played quite a convincing depressed person.

So without giving too much away, Emily, the main character, suffers from depression after her husband, Martin was sent to prison for some unknown crime. She waits for him (sweet), only her depression takes a toll on their relationship. She is treated by a new doctor, Jude Law’s character, who prescribes her a newly released antidepressant called ABLIXA. And this is when, surprise, surprise…things start going wrong. Like, really wrong.

Let me start off by saying that whatever expectations you have about this film are going to be shattered pretty much the moment the film begins. We are told after the beginning scene that this is going to be a circular narrative and so are naturally eager to find out about the events which led up to the bloody scene which we are presented with at the beginning.

Halfway through the film you think you’ve figured out the plot. Well let me just tell you that no. no, you haven’t. The full extent of the narrative will slowly dawn upon you within the last 15-20 minutes. In fact, I feel as though I need to re-watch this film in order for me to piece together all the information correctly, because (as my mind works at a glacial speed) I missed a great deal. But what I did get MADE SENSE.

Let’s just talk about the underlying message of this film. We take a hell of a lot of pills. Especially Americans. Oh, that reminds me; there was one quote which summed up the difference between pill taking tendencies of the UK and the USA: “In the UK, if you’re taking pills, that means you’re sick. In the US, taking pills means you’re getting better.” That quote has crazy connotations! But so has the film! There were people popping pills to get ready for job interviews. This is the kind of world we live in, people! At one point they even mentioned that a lot of the pills were actually placebos. What has that got to say about the people who take them and actually get better as a result? That they weren't really ill in the first place, that’s what.

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About the dialogue. I usually notice when dialogue is bad because when dialogue is bad, it is very, very bad, and when dialogue good…well, I’m less likely to notice. Sounds pretty lame, I know, but I’m far more likely to notice bad dialogue because, for example, someone answering the phone and saying “Hello, brother. Thank you for calling me to remind me that you are coming over to visit me later” well, its just crap and it negates all the effort that the director and actors have put into creating a believable world. So anyway, I didn’t notice anything bad about the dialogue, and I think the script overall must have been very good because just when you think you're secure in your own smug knowledge about what's going to go down, the writer (Scott Z. Burns) is like “PSYCH!” And then throws you off guard again.

The music was pretty good in creating suspense, and there were some interesting camera angles going on. Angles that almost had me tilting my head to the side and then I realised that, as an audience member, I shouldn’t have to do a damn thing but sit in my damn seat and be fed information.

So overall, I am experiencing some pretty good side effects from watching this film. (Sorry, it had to be done)

Good day!

P.S. If you enjoyed this film, you'll probably also enjoy Limitless. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/?ref_=sr_1

8/10

Starship Troopers

Its a Friday night, I'm home alone and I'm bored. I'm not trying to get your sympathy but I'm sure you will feel some for me after the end of this review. So I went on Netflix and, for those of you who live in the States, I've got to tell you how lucky you are because your Netflix has a way bigger selection of films. Our one in the UK has about 20 films on it. Not really but you know, we have limited choices. So I searched the thriller section as I usually do and came across this film called Starship Troopers. The name sounded familiar, it was under the "action thrillers" genre so I went onto the IMDB website and looked it up. It got 7 stars; I was sold.

So I got myself all cosied up, lights down low, iPad propped against a cushion, hot water bottle; the whole shebang. The first thing that struck me was that it was not going to be a serious film. It starts with an advert to join what they call the "Federal Service" which is, in essence, a space army. It's completely spoofy. The music was over the top while a reporter stood in front of a backdrop of disembodied limbs, encouraging viewers to join. Then suddenly we get thrown back a year to a high school classroom full of stock jock characters, bimbos and over-eager teachers. Then it slowly dawns on me that it was essentially going to be a teen-sci-fi-action-spoof-thriller and I'm thinking "how the hell is that going to work?" *spoiler alert* It didn't. 

"Kill them! Kill them all!" really does a great job of summing up the whole plot. And by them, I mean the giant alien bugs and by "kill" I do mean kill. Netflix wasn't lying when they said it was an action film. There were plenty of people getting blown up, ripped apart and having their brains sucked out, but what it did lack entirely, was suspense. The main criteria for a thriller is suspense which is why I felt cheated by Netflix and it is also why I feel as though, by putting this on my thriller review blog, I am, in a way, cheating you. I'm sorry. I just had to make those hours I wasted watching this film count.  

One positive thing I can say about this film is that the makers played around with the voyeuristic nature of us humans. There was another advert at one point for a live execution that evening. There was also live coverage of soldiers being killed. I was shocked at this, but then I thought, hey, isn't that what we're doing by watching this film? People do die in wars and, by watching war films, in a way, we want to see a reenactment of those deaths. We are sick, people! 

But back to the criticism: I remember thinking to myself, at various points: "interesting things are happening, but I'm not interested." I didn't care if any of the characters died. And that's because the characters were completely two dimensional. For me, there were no interesting character traits portrayed in any of them. They were all just basically killing machines. The above quote somewhat proves this.

And killing the bugs was very necessary. They, like most extra-terrestrial beings, were hostile creatures, and there was one bug in particular that I found very alarming. It kind of looked like a giant brain and, coincidently, it's favourite past-time seemed to be eating brains. So the one thing I can say I've learnt from watching this film is you are what you eat.

A fair 5/10. Watch it if you want to see lots of people dying in terrifyingly horrific ways.

Why?

This picture encapsulates everything we should be feeling after watching a good thriller: cathartic, slightly traumatised, yet undeniably serene. The thriller genre evokes our voyeuristic tendencies and underlying fears in order to entertain us. There is something about seeing the world through the eyes of someone just like ourselves, and seeing that world transform into something deadly. 

What is it about the thriller genre that attracts millions to it? It is the ability it gives us to live our greatest fears through a fictional character in order to help us purge those feelings of anxiety that we link with certain things. It is a need to be scared, a need to feel the instability, not in our own, but in other people's lives. Why else would we read gossip magazines? Why else would we use social media to find out about the personal lives of others? Why else would we stop to gawk at an accident on a busy road? Because it gives us a way in which to live an alternate life temporarily, while forgetting about our own. 

What is is about the thriller genre that we love? We love to know that, whatever happens to us, someone, somewhere out there is worse off than us. We want to know that our lives aren't all that bad, and that, in fact, in comparison to some others, our lives are pretty great, so great, that we can afford to waste our time experiencing simulations of alternate existences.

I happen to be one of these people. Join me in my quest for the perfect thriller.