I already reviewed this a while back in January when I saw it in the cinema. It was disorienting, but not bad. I decided to give it a second chance and rented it on video about a month ago and found it was actually pretty good. Although I think it's taking a bit of a gamble that people who detested the movie first time round will watch the damn thing again. That being said, onto the review. Again.
I'm not gonna restate the plot, but I'll mention briefly the interesting stuff that you can find from watching this film again:
As ravens are used in certain cultures to represent Death, I think the character of Raven IS Death. This is particularly evident towards the end when (s)he says to Cassie that it's not her time [to die] and to "go back to Sean" who is alive.
I still can't figure out who represents which but both Annabel and Sean represent Cassie's wish to either give up and die or fight to live from her coma state. Sean may represent the former (possibly because Cassie thinks he's dead and it IS, after all, HER subconscious), when in reality Sean has survived and is willing her to live. It's pretty cool to watch when you know who lives and who dies.
The Masked Man and Scarred Man represent the crash and Cassie's guilt over causing it. The chases might be her mind's way of helping her to face what happened. This is reenforced by Father Jude's explanation that her dream state is a result of not being ready to face what has happened.
* Basically that's the gist of it. I don't exactly know what Matt represents (possibly just the coma- he doesn't make Cassie "choose" like Annabel), but it's not a bad movie once you know what the hell's going on. All you need to know is Cassie is between living and dying and she's in a dream state where she has to decide whether she's going to live or die.
The whole Life vs Death thing is done a bit better in 'Jacob's Ladder' to be honest, but there are times in this film where it is visually excellent. The only thing I REALLY didn't like was the very end when Cassie gushes that " I heard all of you". Ugh.
If you saw it once and thought it was OK, watch it again. You might find it better. If you HATED/DETESTED/DESPISED... the film, you'll probably not want to see it again and I don't blame you.
Interesting film- but it's not gonna win any awards anytime soon.
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