It is surprising how many of the characters in the film come across as superfluous. I mean, really, the whole tale seems like it could be carried by Eleanor Vance vs. the spirit world, if only they could come up with a more convincing way of getting her into the house.
The character of Theo is a prime example. Catherine Zeta-Jones is gorgeous and provocative, but one can't help feeling that her sole function for being in the film is to look pretty and say outrageous things in a desperate attempt to shoehorn sex appeal into a plot that has no real room for it. In fact, the only part of her that is not shown off to good advantage is her acting skill, making it painfully obvious that her role is primarily decorative. But the sad part is... that alone makes her far more useful than most of the rest of the cast.
Her scene, for example, with Liam Neeson, as Theo chastises the good Dr Marrow for his tarnished ethics and poor judgement in having put them all in this situation in the first place lacks the passion one would expect from someone who's got so much right to be angry at being made a lab rat, yet, it's just as well, as Neeson himself seems half asleep while she rants, and strikes me throughout the film as never really understanding his role.
And as for Luke (Owen Wilson) --- oh, my. Has there ever been a character so utterly pointless for anything but getting himself killed by angry spirits? And the way the whole thing is put together and acted out leaves us unable to believe the whole death scene ever happened in the first place. I mean, what was that emotion supposed to be, anyway? Panic? Or just utter stupidity? If possible, this character and his portrayal are even more disfunctional than any of the others.
I agree with other comments I've read, that Lili Taylor manages to pull off her role [Eleanor] with some degree of dignity, but even she has a hard time portraying the sense of encroaching madness one would expect under such stresses, though her role was the best one the film had to offer, and she does manage it with some degree of grace and skill.
The technical effects in the film were very nice. I'm a fan of such things in general, although I was disappointed that easily four fifths of the best fx were already seen in the local TV ads, they were, in general, nicely supplemental to the incredible atmosphere created simply by the sets themselves. A house so elaborately designed as Hillhouse is portrayed would, in and of itself be an awesome effect, even without the techno trickery brought on by the plot. Regrettably, between the house and the special effects, I found myself leaving the theater wondering why the humans in this film got so much screen time.
The character of Theo is a prime example. Catherine Zeta-Jones is gorgeous and provocative, but one can't help feeling that her sole function for being in the film is to look pretty and say outrageous things in a desperate attempt to shoehorn sex appeal into a plot that has no real room for it. In fact, the only part of her that is not shown off to good advantage is her acting skill, making it painfully obvious that her role is primarily decorative. But the sad part is... that alone makes her far more useful than most of the rest of the cast.
Her scene, for example, with Liam Neeson, as Theo chastises the good Dr Marrow for his tarnished ethics and poor judgement in having put them all in this situation in the first place lacks the passion one would expect from someone who's got so much right to be angry at being made a lab rat, yet, it's just as well, as Neeson himself seems half asleep while she rants, and strikes me throughout the film as never really understanding his role.
And as for Luke (Owen Wilson) --- oh, my. Has there ever been a character so utterly pointless for anything but getting himself killed by angry spirits? And the way the whole thing is put together and acted out leaves us unable to believe the whole death scene ever happened in the first place. I mean, what was that emotion supposed to be, anyway? Panic? Or just utter stupidity? If possible, this character and his portrayal are even more disfunctional than any of the others.
I agree with other comments I've read, that Lili Taylor manages to pull off her role [Eleanor] with some degree of dignity, but even she has a hard time portraying the sense of encroaching madness one would expect under such stresses, though her role was the best one the film had to offer, and she does manage it with some degree of grace and skill.
The technical effects in the film were very nice. I'm a fan of such things in general, although I was disappointed that easily four fifths of the best fx were already seen in the local TV ads, they were, in general, nicely supplemental to the incredible atmosphere created simply by the sets themselves. A house so elaborately designed as Hillhouse is portrayed would, in and of itself be an awesome effect, even without the techno trickery brought on by the plot. Regrettably, between the house and the special effects, I found myself leaving the theater wondering why the humans in this film got so much screen time.