Die (2010)
Summary
Genre: Horror, ThrillerGoodies:
+ Awesome concept, + Interesting character dynamicsBaddies:
- Poor execution, - Terrible actingSix people, each of them is on the road to self-destruction. They wake up in cells in a surreal facility, without knowing how they got there or why. Are they in denial? Are they crazy? What happened? As they try to figure things out, a mysterious man forces the six abductees to participate in a disturbing experiment called the Trials. During the experiment, the unwilling participants will come to face disturbing truths about themselves and decide each others’ fate in a game of dice. As the storyline unfolds, we discover that something greater connects them all.
Some may think the plot description is enough to stay away – there have been a plethora of films that have tried this (all sort of in-line with the philosophy of the Saw series), but I love this formula for a movie. A few other films that I have been impressed by with a similar dynamic is Exam and Nine, but then you have those films like Are You Scared? that really take their audience for fools. This film was by no means as good as Exam, but nowhere near as bad as AYS, thus putting it pretty much in the middle of the the line. The film wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be after the first 20 minutes (I thought it was doomed), but seeing people’s stories unfold and how they had to ‘punish’ the other people in the group as per their crux was an interesting concept, but the film felt flimsy and thin the entire time. The plot never really thickened to a place where you cared that much about the characters and never explained in great detail WHY all of these things were happening. I will categorize this as a Saw rip-off because the main character had a morality bend where he wanted people to appreciate their lives, but the connection of the people to each other was almost non-existant. The other huge ‘miss’ with this film is that their “lesson” was left up to fate – a 1 in 6 chance of surviving (sometimes 3 in 6, but still) – thus their ability to appreciate life is left merely up to luck – which just seems lame. At least in films that are similar, there are tasks that show the victim’s capacity to want to live – this , not so much. Basically, if you have the chance to see this film – watch Exam instead, it has the group dynamic with a lot more mystery and better twists (there weren’t really any twists in this film – which isn’t NEEDED, but helps with this type of film). Overall, i’d say avoid.
