THE EYE.

I had seen, and loved, the original Chinese version of The Eye a few years back. When I first heard they were remaking it, I was both excited and nervous. This project has been in the process of being made for a long time now. It had gone off radar for a while, but then, not too long ago, it showed up again, and it was starring Jessica Alba. So now that it’s out, I’m finally able to give my verdict. To catch people up, The Eye is about a blind violinist, Sydney (Jessica Alba), who gets a corneal transplant. However, she soon starts seeing things that she shouldn’t be, namely horrible situations, ghosts, and the very angry ‘shadows’ that transport them to the afterlife.

Now it’s been a while since I’ve seen the original, but I did get flashbacks while watching this version. So, in other words, there are some similarities between the two. However, I still think the original was better (of course). This one didn’t awe me as much (or creep me out as much) as the original, though that could be partially due to the annoying jerks sitting behind me who liked to talk really loud and refuse to silence their phones (Four times it rang, and he answered. FOUR).

Anywho, the only real characters you can get attached to are Sydney and this dude named Miguel, though Miguel isn’t in the movie enough to really matter. But he’s a nice guy nonetheless. Everybody else is either ‘blah’ or a jerk. The biggest ‘blah’ character is Sydney’s sister, Helen (Parker Posey), who gives such a mediocre performance that she’s really more like a random woman in the movie. The biggest jerk would be the potential love interest, Paul (Alessandro Nivola), who really is just a big a-hole. Sydney even calls him on it at one point. But then they randomly throw in scenes where you’re supposed to like him, or that Sydney’s character is supposed to grow more attached to him, but it just doesn’t work. The whole time you’re just sitting there like “This dude’s an ass.”

The visuals were good, though the ‘shadows’ reminded me of like a mix between Voldemort and the vamps from I Am Legend. The movie had a few creepy moments, but really only one or two big jump-scares. The original, again, was much creepier, though; especially the elevator scene, which was much more effective in the Chinese version. And the “Have you seen my report card?” kid in the original was creepy, though the one in this version was almost laughable.

Though, the movie wasn’t horrible. It did manage to entertain for what it was. But it didn’t do anything special, either. There was even a point in the movie where it makes fun of itself, as Sydney is about to say “I see dead people,” but Paul finishes her sentence and then laughs in her face. So in the end, this movie wasn’t awesome, but it didn’t suck, either. If you thought the premise was cool, you can check this one out, but I’d much recommend the original first. At least that one doesn’t have voice-over narration by Jessica Alba. The Eye gets…

Stop Saying Okay! Okay.

(P.S. The girl who plays Ana Christina Martinez totally looks like the girl who plays Alex on Lost. I would have sworn it was her while watching the movie, but it’s not.)