Plot: What’s it about?
Halle Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress and her follow-up role to the great (and depressing) “Monster’s Ball” is the somewhat lacking “Gothika”. There’s nothing new in this movie. It’s all been said and done before. Berry, with her most impressive body, does her best at the role and it’s a nice change of pace from the typical person we might imagine in a role like this (though at the moment, I can’t think of any names). In recent years, it seems that the supernatural has become more and more commercial. With the success of last year’s “The Ring”, we will be seeing a new slew of these movies; and yes – it’s already begun. “Gothika” gets its premise from the dark, as its name suggests. True to form, it takes place in a prison and we have the lovely Miranda Grey (Berry) as the prison shrink. The inmates aren’t typical, in fact some of them look like Penelope Cruz. And this isn’t the supernatural part. Miranda slinks around the dingy place as if it were her second home, and we believe that it might be. Somewhat pursued by her comrade, Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr.), the two flirt more than anything even though Grey is married to her “boss”, Douglas (Charles S. Dutton).
As luck would have it, Miranda is treating a patient (Cruz) and then heads off to her swim. As she is heading home, there’s a sinkhole in the road (the movie takes place in Connecticut and I’ve lived there and have never heard of a sinkhole…but anyway) and she’s forced to take a detour. Going across the type of bridge that we only find in this genre, she makes it across only to swerve off the road (in an electrical storm, no less) to avoid hitting a girl in the middle of the road. She awakens three days later as a patient in her own hospital (prison) accused of the murder of her husband. Miranda had evidently made it home and decided to chop up her Douglas into several pieces with an axe. How nice. Now the wrongly accused Grey must prove her innocence to Pete and the rest of the crew. To add to the story, she’s being haunted by the same girl who she nearly killed and has carved the words “Not Alone” on her arm (this is nicely conveyed on the front cover, by the way). Now the good doctor must avoid all of her patients she was treating, convince the police and her fellow shrinks that she’s the one who is sane and figure out who chopped up her better half a few days back…”Gothika” might be fun if you’ve nothing better to do. It’s certainly not bad, I was tense a few times during the film but not much more. Berry is a great actress and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see more of her body (say, like, in “Die Another Day”). Still, her talents don’t disappoint and I think it’s safe to say that she did better here than many actresses could. But when there’s not much to work with, there’s not a lot that can be done. It is nice to see Robert Downy Jr. in films again, though.
Video: How does it look?
“Gothika” has been issued by Warner in both widescreen and full-frame versions. The widescreen version was reviewed and the solid-looking 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is really hard to beat. The movie, new to DVD, has several spots where the black levels are challenged, thankfully the transfer handles them flawlessly. Fleshtones appear to be right on track and consistent and edge enhancement is barely existent. The movie seemed to possess a sharpness to the picture that we don’t see except in these new DVD’s. Quite frankly, the only thing that keeps this one from being perfect is some minor compression artifacts from time to time. A great transfer and truly representative of what Warner has consistently been putting out.
Audio: How does it sound?
A standard Dolby Digital 5.1 track is used here and to great effect. If anything good can be said about the movies of this genre (especially the new ones) it’s that great sound does a lot to increase the tension. The surrounds kick in at just the right times and while most of the action takes place in the front channels, the general ambiance is very deep. I found the range to be very broad and the dialogue is very clean and well-defined, too. The LFE made their presence known as well and though the soundtrack won’t shake the room, it does the next best thing – sounds loud. So while “Gothika” does sound great, it’s still a notch or two down from those ones that really knock your socks off. A nice effort here and viewers won’t be disappointed.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Aside from a rather dull audio commentary with the director and director of photography, there’s a music video with Limp Biskit. The commentary tends to drag and the participants seem to sit back and admire their own work a little too much. Still, it’s nice to have at any rate. Nothing else has been included and if you want it in full-frame (who knows why), you’ll have to buy the separate version as this and the widescreen aren’t available on one disc.
