| Overall Grade: |
C+ |
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| Story: |
C+ |
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| Acting: |
C+ |
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| Direction: |
C |
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| Visuals: |
C+ |
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Scary and Suspensful...
by NancyS (movies profile)
Sep 26, 2005
31
of
41 people found this review helpful
If your genre of film is "Scary and Suspenseful", you may not be that disappointed with "White Noise". Even though I felt it was somewhat contrived and occasionally implausible, I found myself at moments grabbing onto the arm of my movie-goer mate! Be forewarned however, there are slow parts and unexplained story lines which you just have to overlook in order to feel the film's satisfaction.
The movie's message is that EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) is real and can be dangerous. (Check out the official website if you're in doubt of that viewpoint - there are 3 "samples" of evp)
The overall theme, however, makes you think about obsessions and how they can destroy day to day living and relationships with others. Whether its obsession with communicating with a dead family member (as the Michael Keaton character) or obsession with drugs, alcohol, gambling, food, body image, possessions, money, sex, whatever. In "White Noise" we see successful architect Jonathan Rivers abruptly lose his beautiful, pregnant wife (and acclaimed author) in an accident. This triggers him to gradually slip away from work, his regular day to day routine altered. Even his relationship with his young son is set aside as he obsesses on the screen images and sounds. "Daddy, are you going to be okay?" asks his son as Jonathan's life gets out of wack, his perspective off-kilter.
Another thought that "White Noise" provoked is the often unfortunate interpretation of signs. Is it a 'sign'? Is someone trying to tell us something? Is it a message from a dead loved one, a message from God? Sometimes we resort to randomly opening a book and reading a passage out of it or turning on the radio and hearing a line from a song which seems to answer our question. Having a light go on at just the moment we asked for a "sign" may cause us to make a decision or act. And yet, so often, don't we see and hear what we want to?...
While somewhat thought-provoking and occasionally suspenseful, the characters and plot development of "White Noise" could have been much better. And what's up with Jonathan's relationship with his ex-wife? It seemed so "perfect" and their son together was so young that it left me wondering what went wrong with their love, anyway?
You could do without this movie, unless you just want to get creeped-out or are interested in the aforementioned themes. I did enjoy the suspense. |
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