SomeoneMovie Review: White Noise 2: The Light
July 4th 2009 03:00
Premise: A seemingly crazed gunman strolls into a crowded diner, and guns down the wife and son of Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion) before saying "I'm so sorry" to Dale and turning the gun on himself. Guilt-ridden, Abe attempts to overdose on painkillers and alcohol, and dies momentarily before being revived in hospital. After his near death experience, Abe finds that he has become a transceiver for paranormal transmissions, and can tell when people are about to die by a mysterious white light. He then attempts to overcome the grief of losing his family by saving others... but soon discovers that saving people is not as simple as it would seem.
I was at the video store, and decided that today was the day... I couldn't resist any longer... and so, giddy with anticipation, I walked over to the TV-on-DVD section, barely able to contain my excitement...
Shock! Horror!
Firefly was nowhere to be found. Confused, angry, I demanded an explanation from the cashier. Alas, someone had beaten me to the proverbial punch, and I wouldn't be able to rent it. Doubly awful, my housemate loves her sci-fi and after seeing Serenity demanded that I watch this series with her... except she left this morning to go home for 3 weeks.
Devastated, I browsed mindlessly through the rest of the videos, my hopes and dreams shattered. Then, out of the corner of my eye... was that my beloved Nathan Fillion I saw? It was! Desperate for a fix of what is fast becoming one of my favourite actors, I rented out The Light. I knew it wouldn't compare to Firefly, but I needed something, anything!
Acting: Nathan Fillion is, as always, a pleasure to watch, and carries the movie. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the gorgeous Katee Sackhoff
Yummy
Script: The first half is definitely stronger than the second. It was straightforward, if a little predictable. The romance between Fillion and Sackhoff can be seen coming from a mile off, but both are good performers and help convey the story of two people who have loved and lost finding hope within each other. The twist concerning the gunman is also relatively predictable, but I suppose that could just be because I watch far too many movies.
However, after Fillion begins investigating the Gunman's past, the script kind of falls apart. The writers kind of decide that they want to have a semi-plausible explanation for what occurs, but half-way through decide that they've had enough and stop. What we are left with is mess of theology and action. Don't get me wrong, the idea is kind of cool, but if you have a supernatural-based movie, you either explain it or you don't, and half-hearted explanations often overshadow an otherwise good movie. For example... Transformers 2 and that stupid, stupid dream sequence.... Anyway, I'm going to spoil the movie here, so...
Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!
After investigating the gunman, Fillion discovers that he is in fact still alive. He visits him in hospital to find him driven insane by the ghosts of the dead. Apparently, if you save people, the ghosts of the dead haunt you... and after 3 days, the people you saved get possessed (or something like that) by the devil and commit mass homicide... and that's about as full an explanation as you get. Bit of a lame duck, right? The rest of the movie after that involves Fillion running around trying to stop the people he saved from going all Linda Blair and killing everyone. Other than the half-hearted explanation, the script is ok, and despite my qualms with it, the plot holes and lame explanations are not enough to spoil the movie.
Effects: What you would expect from a medium-to-high budget affair like this. It's a ghost movie, so don't expect any gore... but plenty of flickering lights, TV static, and a few BOO! moments.
Direction: Not great, but not terrible either. We get a few hits of tension, but nothing that will have you clinging to a loved one.
Now, I haven't seen the first White Noise, but from what I have read it's plot has very little to do with this sequel... and I really do respect that. Much like how Aliens departed from Alien, I have great respect for sequels that attempt to cover new ground using the same franchise, as this one does. Yes, it is not a perfect movie, and some parts of it were a little bit offputting/lame... but overall, worth watching, even if it's just to tie you over until you can rent out Firefly
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