The Reel World: 'The Eye'

Engaging premise overshadows overused horror elements in Hong Kong remake

By Joe Nguyen, AsiaXpress.com

Feb. 3, 2008

Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind violinist who receives a cornea transplant that helps her see for the first time in 15 years.

But she soon discovers that there's more than meets the eye when she starts to see dead people.

Based on the 2002 Hong Kong movie of the same name, "The Eye" is the latest in Hollywood's long line of Asian-movie remakes. While most of these reinterpretations are absent of the original's essence, directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud stay true to the storyline. While the exaggerated horror build-up music is overused and some questions remained unsolved, its interesting premise and simple, straightforward storytelling creates a mildly entertaining, uncomplicated viewing experience.

Despite Moreau and Palud's effort, "The Eye" is not a horror movie. It wasn't in the 2002 Hong Kong version and it isn't now. It moves more like a psychological thriller since Sydney is the only one who is directly affected by this. But it seems like every couple of minutes, the rising orchestral sounds enter, building up to nothing. After 20 minutes, the effect becomes washed out.

There were many plot sequences that raised questions, but were ultimately left answered. In one scene Sydney ends up at a burned down Chinese restaurant, but there's no reason why she was there. True it was an element to show that she could see dead people, but so were about half a dozen other scenes before it.

However the movie's premise is interesting and the directors' told it in a way that draws the audience into the film. Rather than trying to complicate matters by adding elaborate back stories to flesh out the characters, they accepted the story as what it is: a woman gets an eye implant, sees dead people and wants to know why. No sappy love stories, no forced family dilemmas, just a straightforward plot-driven story.

"The Eye" is by no means a masterpiece, but it's not supposed to be. It's engaging and stays relatively faithful as a remake to a solid film – that's about all that can be asked. And if nothing else, Jessica Alba provides nice eye candy.

Joe Nguyen is the editor in chief of AsiaXpress.com. Joe can be reached at joe (at) asiaxpress.com.