I read the book Intensity a long time ago and had no idea that there was a TV movie made out of it. I thought I would have no chance of seeing it, being as that it was made in 97' and probably not on DVD. But then today when I was flipping through On Demand I saw it in the free section. Cool beans, right? Maybe not so much.
As the movie started I came close to stopping it and walking away several times. The first 20 minutes or so is just sooooo asinine. The movie makes a very poor attempt at trying to get you to like the characters that you know are going to die in about 5 minutes, and to try and foreshadow, but fails at it miserably. Pretty much through this entire movie I didn't give two cence about any of the characters.
Now, once the killing started happening I was sorely disappointed. The big scene were Vess kills the family that took like a hundred pages in the book is over in about five minutes, and there is no intensity at all. It's pretty much Chyna hides under bed, Vess comes in, annoying music plays, she breaths really hard, he leaves, she runs around the house really loudly and finds all the dead people and freaks out, etc. etc.
After the leave the house Chyna hides in with the killer in his RV and they go barreling down the highway. He stops at the gas station and we finally get to see who he is: it's that funny doctor guy from Scrubs...trying to be a psychotic serial killer...no. Almost all the reviews I've read have praised his performance, but I don't think that there's anyone worse they could have picked to play except for Jim Carrey. I was never once afraid or intimidated by Vess. He did not act like a cool collective serial killer, he acted like a giddy school boy squishing bugs the entire movie. I could have kicked his ass, and I'm a real wimp. Plus how is it that he does not take any precautions while killing people, yet has never been caught? Chyna is also a piece of work, like everyone else has stated she makes some of the most stupid mistakes that anyone has ever made in a movie, ever. The actress playing her did a pretty good job. She was good at being scared, being in pain, being scared and in pain.
While there was a couple of mildly intense scenes, most of the movie was just dull. If you have 3 hours to kill or are a fan of the book or thrillers check it out, if not don't bother.
As the movie started I came close to stopping it and walking away several times. The first 20 minutes or so is just sooooo asinine. The movie makes a very poor attempt at trying to get you to like the characters that you know are going to die in about 5 minutes, and to try and foreshadow, but fails at it miserably. Pretty much through this entire movie I didn't give two cence about any of the characters.
Now, once the killing started happening I was sorely disappointed. The big scene were Vess kills the family that took like a hundred pages in the book is over in about five minutes, and there is no intensity at all. It's pretty much Chyna hides under bed, Vess comes in, annoying music plays, she breaths really hard, he leaves, she runs around the house really loudly and finds all the dead people and freaks out, etc. etc.
After the leave the house Chyna hides in with the killer in his RV and they go barreling down the highway. He stops at the gas station and we finally get to see who he is: it's that funny doctor guy from Scrubs...trying to be a psychotic serial killer...no. Almost all the reviews I've read have praised his performance, but I don't think that there's anyone worse they could have picked to play except for Jim Carrey. I was never once afraid or intimidated by Vess. He did not act like a cool collective serial killer, he acted like a giddy school boy squishing bugs the entire movie. I could have kicked his ass, and I'm a real wimp. Plus how is it that he does not take any precautions while killing people, yet has never been caught? Chyna is also a piece of work, like everyone else has stated she makes some of the most stupid mistakes that anyone has ever made in a movie, ever. The actress playing her did a pretty good job. She was good at being scared, being in pain, being scared and in pain.
While there was a couple of mildly intense scenes, most of the movie was just dull. If you have 3 hours to kill or are a fan of the book or thrillers check it out, if not don't bother.