..from being a very ordinary film.
I was not all that impressed for the most part until the very nice ending. Amber Heard is so beautiful, it kind of didn't matter I wasn't digging it that much. But wow, it comes together at the end.
I didn't understand this film's ending. I got that she was severely traumatized, and her mind became afflicted with MPD.
But what was all that 'escaping' business then? Did she really try to escape and attack the nurse and orderly at all?
Was the evil ghost just another personality? So all the 'deaths' were her mind's personalities being integrated one by one?
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
Yes, yes, and kind of. That's if the other personalities don't come back for whatever reason or become ghosts.
shareI think the escape attempts represented her resistance to being cured, and I think the ghost represented the doctor since he was the one trying to eliminate or "kill" the extra personalities.
share[deleted]
I thought the ending really hurt this film; it's so trite and predictable.
I'm a totally bitchin' bio writer from Mars!
Funny, that´s the only thing I didn´t like. There are a lot more movies with this 'twist'and is actually kind of dumb for a horror movie in my opinion. For this movie I believe it was better to stick to the supernatural stuff instead of going that way, but I wll forgive the ending because everything else was satisfying.
shareIt is just a rehashed twist ending from superior films. In fact even those superior films this movie clearly ripped off were not the ones that invented multiple personality twist endings. It isn't about a twist ending saving the movie when the whole movie is crap. The execution is everything.
The acting in this movie is very boring and wooden. In some scenes, the actors are downright incompetent. There are way too many reused shots of the ward that serve no purpose. It reminded me of the Room just cutting to montages of cars and traffic because the movie couldn't think of anything better to do with its already short run-time. The music was really oppressive and dictated too much as opposed to just supporting what scenes we were actually watching.
Plus... why is it that multiple personalities or ghosts or anything can not ever think more creatively than to just throw each other against walls or over soft beds? If it is a mental struggle why stoop so low as to have to have the conflict play out as a literal physical battle? It makes so little sense. Think about how brilliant Fight Club was when it chose to have the final conflict be resolved in a cerebral manner rather than some slugfest!
This movie never established why I should like Kristen. It never established why I should want her to escape. All I knew is she was super hot and blond. Would I care about her character if she was a creepy old dude? I rest my case. I have no reason on paper to like this girl or support her. The first thing I see her doing is burning a house down and freaking out. I'd say that is hardly someone I want to root for. Same thing with every character. I could not care less if they died or not because none of them were relatable or interesting or established as someone to care about if they die. Jacob's Ladder was a phenomenal movie at making you genuinely care about the protagonist. Immediately, the movie establishes that the character wants to get back to his family and the people he cares about. You see him struggling emotionally. I want him to succeed. I don't want the demons to get him. It also helps that Tim Robbins is one of the best sympathetic actors in the business. The Ward does no such thing to make you care about anyone and when added to the poor acting it hurts the impact the movie could have had.
Superior movies with better acting, music, camerawork, dialog, character development, and pacing that utilize similar twist or premise...
1) Identity
2) Shutter Island
3) Fight Club
4) Jacob's Ladder
The thing is that I'm sick and tired of "good ideas" when I'm watching movies. "In Time" had a good idea for a movie. Hell... "Birdemic: Shock and Terror" had a good idea for a movie; birds attack everybody. It was the same idea as "The Birds". Just because a movie has a "good idea" or a "good twist" it doesn't make the movie itself good. The execution of the idea is always more important than the idea. Every idea has been done a million times and no stories are purely original. You can only tell them in original ways. This movie was generic and sloppily put together and so any good ideas it had were just what they were; good idea but *beep* movie.
I'm a big fan of Carpenter's older stuff like "The Thing". Some evidence that this is the same director is still present in "The Ward". I liked the way the camera follows the actors around the halls with a steadicam; that reminded me of some of the tracking shots from "The Thing". It created some good chase scenes towards the end. "The Ward" was not entirely awful but it was still mostly awful.
The deceptively intelligent screenplay for "The Thing", however, was not why it was so good. Yes, a changeling was a great concept or a "good idea" for a movie... but the execution is what sets it up as one of the better horror movies ever made. "The Thing" had great acting that beats the breaks off "The Ward"! It also had revolutionary effects and a soundtrack that actually supported the tension and atmosphere of the given scene. It also had way more interesting characters that you can actually root for... I wanted Kurt Russell's character to live!
Heck, someone above posted that Carpenter had better episodes in "Masters of Horror" TV show. "Cigarette Burns" was an awesome bit of horror that did its idea justice as opposed to idea "saving" the horrible movie. A great director should be able to make a solid movie with or without a brilliantly written screenplay masterpiece. Heck. The original "Saw" was a "good idea" but look how the same "good idea" somehow gets worse and worse with each new movie in the series? There is a reason. It is not the idea that is bad it is that they get new directors and actors who stink to try and tell the same story! Look at "Silent Hill" and how much better it is than "Silent Hill: Revelation"!
It definitely must be said that Carpenter is not a consistent director. He's made a few great ones but he's got quite a few crappy ones also. When he is on point he's a "master of horror" but on an off day he's a "master at sucking". At least he's proven he can still make the occasional comeback good movie like "Cigarette Burns" unlike Shyamalan who just gets worse and worse as he goes! Don't get me started on how many "good ideas" Shyamalan has totally screwed up! *COUGH* "Airbender" *COUGH*
Like so many bad horror movies; could have been good if it didn't suck.
Shutter Island was a whole lot worse than The Ward. Bleh...
shareJust saw this again, after a few years or so. Long enough that I'd forgotten the resolution, so it was a fun surprise.
I like the ending, too. It leaves me wondering - who's going to win ascendancy?
I think probably Kristen. But she's smart - now that she knows what she is, she'll answer to the name Alice, so Alice's parents won't know.
And then I think she'll hunt down and kill whoever tortured Alice when she was a little girl. So far I think she only got the barn.
"You were dead. Now you’re not. That’s completely fυϲking mad."