Review Detail
8.5 2 10
Enjoyment
7.0
July 20, 2010 @ 1:43 am
The philosophical premise of the original Pulse, a japanese movie by brilliant director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, is nihilism expressed through loneliness. The superficial connections that people sustain with others thru computers are conveyed as brittle and meaningless trivialities that shatter when confronted with the soul crushing isolation that exists on a much deeper level. There are no cheap scares in this movie, as it relies on disturbing, haunting images highlighted by unsettling ghost apparitions. Classic scenes and imagery abound in this masterpiece that kept me awake for days. Comparisons to The Shining come to mind.
The remake is a soulless imitation distilled into a plot in which evil ghosts use the Internet and cell phones to attack the living. It redundantly tries to explain all the unexplained events but In the process overstates the obvious, as if the audience was too stupid to figure it out on its own and needed characters to explain what’s happening onscreen. This is where the remake comes across as ridiculous, at times even crossing into the realm of laughably bad.
What JasonN attempted to do here was to bring the film closer in tone and mood to the original. By taking out a lot of the cliched dialog, horrible acting moments, needless exposition scenes and cheap explanations, he managed to create something that no longer feels like a dumbed down remake. He stripped down the movie to its true themes of isolation and despair and, while never achieving the greatness of the original, at least doesn’t insult our intelligence.
The cuts and transitions were invisible; on the technical side of things this fanedit is flawless. The quality was surprisingly good for an avi. Shame that JasonN opted against the release of a DVD.
But overall, a nice release. Won’t change your life but might entice you to check out the original.
Original movie rating: 4/10
Fanedit entertainment value: 6/10
Bonus point for conceptual and technical excellence results in a final score of 7/10
The philosophical premise of the original Pulse, a japanese movie by brilliant director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, is nihilism expressed through loneliness. The superficial connections that people sustain with others thru computers are conveyed as brittle and meaningless trivialities that shatter when confronted with the soul crushing isolation that exists on a much deeper level. There are no cheap scares in this movie, as it relies on disturbing, haunting images highlighted by unsettling ghost apparitions. Classic scenes and imagery abound in this masterpiece that kept me awake for days. Comparisons to The Shining come to mind.
The remake is a soulless imitation distilled into a plot in which evil ghosts use the Internet and cell phones to attack the living. It redundantly tries to explain all the unexplained events but In the process overstates the obvious, as if the audience was too stupid to figure it out on its own and needed characters to explain what’s happening onscreen. This is where the remake comes across as ridiculous, at times even crossing into the realm of laughably bad.
What JasonN attempted to do here was to bring the film closer in tone and mood to the original. By taking out a lot of the cliched dialog, horrible acting moments, needless exposition scenes and cheap explanations, he managed to create something that no longer feels like a dumbed down remake. He stripped down the movie to its true themes of isolation and despair and, while never achieving the greatness of the original, at least doesn’t insult our intelligence.
The cuts and transitions were invisible; on the technical side of things this fanedit is flawless. The quality was surprisingly good for an avi. Shame that JasonN opted against the release of a DVD.
But overall, a nice release. Won’t change your life but might entice you to check out the original.
Original movie rating: 4/10
Fanedit entertainment value: 6/10
Bonus point for conceptual and technical excellence results in a final score of 7/10
B