Gothika (2003)

Good Ride despite the Plot-Holes.

Blood and Rain
Blood for the Masses

Originally Reviewed for Sinesteria Magazine.

Gothica

Starring
Halle Berry, Robert Downing Jr.

Reviewed by
B.L.Morgan

3 Stars

Gothica is one of those movies that I was intrigued by the first time I saw the commercial, missed at the theatre, then walked past at least a dozen times at the rental store because for some reason it just didn't grab me any more. Well, I finally did rent Gothica last Sunday after making so many laps around the store that the clerks probably thought I was getting ready for The Indy 500.

Despite a few glaring flaws Gothica was a real nail-biter of a horror/mystery movie. The film began with a bang and had some serious scares and the story mostly made sense. I say mostly because one of the glaring flaws that I will not tell you about, because it would destroy the entire story for you, jumped out at me during the closing credits.

Gothica was very entertaining. A wild horrific ride. If you're the kind of person who watches a movie as an event to experience then not think about too much afterward, you'll think Gothica was a great film.

Unfortunately I tend to analyze what I see on the screen a bit too much to be able to blindly enjoy anything.

Here comes the analysis:

First the good things:
Gothica was incredibly moody. Dark ominous lighting and rainy outdoor scenery set the overall tone of the movie. Gothica was aptly named. The whole movie had a modern Gothic tone.

The acting was very professional and very convincing. Charles Dutton and Robert Downey Jr. gave their usual excellent performances. Penelope Cruz was suitably squirly as a dangerous mental patient in a women's prison.

Halle Berry deserves an Oscar for most believable freaked out performance. She has reasons to look disturbed, distraught and totally whacked out. Berry plays a criminal psychologist who wakes up to find herself locked up in the prison where she was employed and accused of murdering her husband. She plays the distraught doctor perfectly.

Now for the bad things:
The women's prison that Halle Berry started the movie as a doctor in and later is an inmate just did not look like a prison. It looked like a hospital. One huge detail was missing that my wife pointed out. There were no toilets in the cells. Sorry, but you gotta go sometime.

Some of the actions of the characters are so far-fetched as to cause actual jaw-dropping. One example; a guard sees an escaping prisoner. He tells a lie for her so she isn't caught, smiles and gives her his car keys.

I don't want to live in the same county where this prison is. The inmates would be strolling in and out of prison whenever they felt like it. Gothica seems to take place in a universe where stupidity is the rule, not the exception.

So if you want to see a movie that will make your nerves tingle and keep you on edge watching Gothica is a good way to spend an evening. You'll have fun watching this movie. Just don't think too much afterward. You'll like it a lot more. October 6, 2008

Nonsense. Neither scary nor suspenseful.

The plot is nonsense. The movie is nether scary nor suspenseful.

It's a waste of time and money. February 16, 2008

DISC PROBLEM

The purchase was smooth. However this is the second HD movie of the same title that has had playback problems. The movie pauses at certain sections of the movie. Amazon sent me a new one to replace the first one and the NEW one did the exact same thing. I even called Toshiba and they said that there is nothing wrong with my player...it has to be a software problem with that particular movie. So if anyone has this movie on HD beware! February 11, 2008

Halle Berry is Great in this Movie

This movie is so good!!! I don't see how this one bombed at the box office. This movie was so different from your average scary movie movie. It is something we have not seen. It is like a horror/thriller. The acting was great, the movie could have been presented a little bit differently. Other than that it was $10.00 well spent. February 7, 2008

Surprisingly very good--and scary!

Don't watch this movie at night, and when you are alone! I did and I almost turned it off. Almost, but it was so good, entertaining, & suspenseful I kept it on. Halle Berry is also surprisingly very good in this. Her acting isn't fakey or like she knows a camera is on her. I very much reccomend this movie if you are looking for a suspenseful spook. February 2, 2008

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