As I’ve explained many times before on this blog, there are
few things in media that I love more than psychological thrillers. Maybe it’s
because I view film as an inherently psychological work, given how it exists to
convince the audience that its frequently absurd world is actually real, but I
have a real liking for films that set out to mess with people’s heads. I’ve
covered the good (Oculus), the bad (Trance) and the outright bizarre (Lost River) over the last couple years, and even at their worst I’d like to think
that I’ve shown a certain leniency with this sub-genre. Naturally, when the
trailers start rolling out for Gore Verbinski’s latest, I have to admit that I
was quite captivated. With its immediately-apparent visual splendour and
familiar but still interesting premise, it definitely seemed to tickle that
itch for me.
However, one thing that I am learning very quickly is that this is going to be a weird year for
expectations in cinema, and this is definitely going to be an example of that. So,
while I roar my lungs out in the Angry Dome, let’s get into this shite already.
