www.imdb.com/ |
Wanting to pay of his family’s debt, Ritchie (Stephen Dorff) returns to
his mother’s homeland of Russia to steal a cross that belongs to the
descendants of Czar Ivan: The Terrible. When the building’s security
becomes aware of the robbery, the lift is stopped on the
thirteenth floor, trapping Ritchie and anyone unlucky enough to end up
in the elevator. One of the “hostages” is decapitated by a huge set of
scissors and the floor’s features artwork that would make Leatherface
proud leads Ritchie to the realization that everyone has become the
targets of the blood thirst of Ivan’s most recent set of grandchildren.
Botched is a great comedy in the tradition of “slashstick” classics like Sam Raimi’s "Army of Darkness" and Peter Jackson’s "Dead Alive". The
graphic violence exists to please fans of it, but it is never shocking
and cannot be considered disturbing. To make it even more enjoyable,
there is no CG mixed with the effects, so it seems more visceral. And
like "Dead Alive", the human leftovers become great comedic props as the film progresses.
When the robbery and ancient artifacts are added to the gory mix, the
film is given a quest like feel. This is amazing since this film follows
the best rule of horror settings; keep the action limited to a limited
space. Beyond the exposition and resolution, the film is limited to hall
ways and small rooms, so the killers do not have to look too hard to
find their prey, but the prey can use the space to trap their hunters.
Since the film is obviously limited to a sound stage, it has B-Movie
charm with A-Movie qualities. Dorff plays the protagonist as someone who
prides himself on being cool, collective, but most importantly
selfish. This is a job to him, he does not want anyone to die, but he
does not want to fail in his mission. Unlike Frasier in The Mummy or Cage in National Treasure,
he accepts the fact he is just a thief. With Dorff’s natural coolness,
the audience relates to him and hope he ends up with the girl, but they
know that is not the point of the film.
Most importantly, the film features no moments where it takes itself
seriously. It wants the audience to cheer the humor and the gore, and
that is all. Movies like the Jones knock offs have their sappy moments
to pull at the heart strings while this one does not take any short cuts
in its literal heart-grabbing action.
"Botched" works
on so many levels that anyone should find a reason to enjoy it. Get
pass the gore and accept that it is there for a punch line, and is
definitely worth anyone’s time. And because we all liked him in the
original "Blade", we should feel obligated to give any Dorff film that’s title has more than three characters in it title a chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment