Reviews

Wow. I've seen a lot of 'alternate timeline' movies, and still this one didn't bore me one bit.

If I'd read any of the bad reviews here before seeing the movie, or looked at the rating demographics, I might have spent my time otherwise. Glad I didn't! Hence this comment to make up for some of the slaughter going on.

I did find it a bit too theatrical at times, grotesque maybe even, but not nearly as much as, say a Matrix trilogy or pretty much any Hollywood blockbuster that requires you to suspend your disbelief for over 90 minutes.

I'll praise this movie some more but I don't know how to do it without spoiling it. So...

*spoilers*

The plot seemed sound to me, pretty cohesive for a temporal mindbender. Ashton Kutcher might have looked a little closer at the character his younger versions were portraying. Still, not bad at all. It wasn't the easiest part to play, I suppose.

The kids in the movie did an excellent job. That li'l psycho Tommy character really freaked me out, bone-chilling! Both young Evans were brilliantly cast, and I'm confident we haven't seen the last of them on the big screen.

Yes, it was a tad lengthy but it offered enough different perspectives along the way to stay interesting. As for the ending, I had a feeling they'd show us you just can't win 'em all when traveling through time. So, unsatisfying or not, I guess it's a believable ending.

As for the ultra-violence, yes the movie shocked, so it didn't let me down. Since I chose to watch a thriller I got what I wanted out of it, and then some. Luckily, it wasn't graphic to the max - even though the plot allowed for an unwatchable snuff type depiction - but it was more than enough to get my synapses firing.

No regrets here, these were 2 hours well-spent!

*SPOILERS*

The ending's pretty spectacular, actually... After Adam slays his latest demon, we see FBI agents trying to figure out who that guy was visiting agent Doyle the other night. Agent #1 can't exactly remember his face, saying it's all a blur. The surveillance tape seems mysteriously damaged (the VHS noise exactly masks his face), so they follow the only lead they have and head for the village Doyle had checked out the info from earlier on in the movie. Agent #1 shows up at the sherriff's office, the lady that answered earlier inquiries by phone is there, and lo and behold, the sherriff is none other than Adam himself. The FBI agent has a Hitchcock type zoom effect happening to him and does not recognize him at all. He informs Adam about his 'brother', and Adam assures them he'll help any way he can. They shake hands, whereupon Adam tells the other he's a good man. No flashes of demonic nastiness. The agent leaves, confused. The girl walks up to him, real happy to hear that "god's will has been served" or something. (She's obviously a 'follower'.) The end.

Now, if you ask me, that whole last part, from the plot twist/brother perspective swap up to the end, is us looking at the whole story from Adam's point of view, who happens to be a delusional maniac, explaining Doyle's 'confession', the face blur, tape screw up and final handshake (which doesn't actually do anything except build upon the other 3 'evidences').

Otherwise, the director would be suggesting that as long as you're 'chosen', you're a superhero who can do anything he wants to combat whatever evil you are 'shown'. We're tempted to consider this possibility because Hollywood directors almost ALWAYS take the stinger out at the end, making sure you know big ol' mister movieguy was just kidding.

It's the total absence of this referential correction that makes for a truly freaky movie.

I read in someone else's review they renamed it 'the devil's hand' in Brazil. They just had to put it in perspective for the feeble minded... shame though, it's the lack of moral comment that I like about it. But I'm not delusional, most of the time.

Yet another reviewer pointed out that it's conveniently coincidental that a demon has been put on his case. That might just be the only clue to a moral comment in the entire 'Adam's view' part of the story. Because it's just too coincidental, and I have to conclude that outside of Adam's version of the story, in 'reality', he just wanted to wrap the whole thing up... His double identity as his long dead brother, the cellar filled with corpses, and most of all that annoying FBI agent that has devoted himself to his case. For Adam, the best way to get that man where he wanted to bury him, was to tell the side of the story Adam thinks Doyle will sympathize with.

I realize there may be people thinking that Adam only recently killed his brother, and/or that his older brother was another demon slaying loony, responsible for the corpses in the cellar. Or even, that Doyle was 'sent' to Adam, making the whole story commentless again. Just writing this makes me reconsider at least the first two options.

My own view just seems to add up more than the others, for me. Which could be unhealthy if I was delusional, right?

Needless to say i rate this baby a 9...