eXistenZ | | Cast : | Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law | | Director : | David Cronenberg | | Studio : | Dimension Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | April 23, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | November 11, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 06, 2005 | | Summary | What is Real??? | Content
 | I love movies/books that question reality. We are all so sure that what we see and feel around us is real, but is it? Just like we are sure that time is linear. Maybe those things are all illusions designed to trick us into believing that this is real so that we can experience life, but that ultimately reality is somewhat different. These answers we cannot know until we leave this life, but they certainly make for interesting contemplation. Movies like eXistenZ only help in that contemplation. I really enjoyed it. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 19, 2005 | | Summary | Semi-eXciting... | Content
| Sort of a wacky follow-up to VIDEODROME, eXistenZ takes us into the peculiar world of video game fanatics in a way that only David Cronenberg can. Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason "SWF" Leigh) has just designed the ultimate video game, complete with pulsating, fleshy control module and umbilical cord! She is the world's foremost game designer and must be guarded against possible assassins (ala videodrome). You see, there is an underground group of revolutionaries who seek to bring back reality as a viable lifestyle. One of them attempts a hit on Geller, only to be terminated himself. Enter Ted Pikul (Jude Law) as the one who must protect Geller and transport her to a safe location. Along the way, we are treated to several strange occurances that make us wonder if any of this is real; especially the 2-headed amphibian critter and the playing of the game eXistenZ itself. The characters are good in a weird sort of way, but I didn't much care what happened to them. The tooth-shooting gun was interesting. eXistenZ isn't exactly terrible, I just didn't like it as much as other Cronenberg offerings... |
| Rating | | | Date | April 29, 2005 | | Summary | Poor collaboration and props, wooden script | Content
| I know half of the people who love Cronenberg will say "But all of that is part of the plan!" but seriously, this movie was poorly done. The props looked like something made out of dental mold rubber using a budget of tens of dollars, and the plot simply plods along. Willem Defoe and other named actors spice up the film a bit, but overall, not something I would watch again, even when desperate. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 08, 2005 | | Summary | Adventures in Psychosis | Content
| This is a very creepy, dream-like riff on the dangers of confusing video game reality with "real" reality, with the suggestion that you may not be able to tell one from the other. You are placed in a world directly wired into your nervous system, and required to figure out the purpose, direction, etc. It's the ultimate and horrible extension of those antique computer "Adventure" games, where you read the first line of a sentence like "You are in a dark room with a door in the corner" and you have to figure out (and type out the answer) what to do next.
One of the issues that prevents this movie from being as good as it could have been is that much of the Existenz world is paralogical. For example, you are shown a strange lizard in several scenes, and then you are served a plate of. . .that lizard. . .and you take the bones and assemble them into a grisly gun. There are a number of these bizarre and arbitrary connections that make you wonder whether who is more psychotic - the game designer, the character whose nervous system is being jacked, or the author of the script. Which muddies up some of the important issues the film is trying to deal with - the nature of reality, whether video games are morally evil in their pull away from reality, whether people will become extensions of their games, rather than vice versa. All weighty and very disturbing issues. So 4 stars for being a really creepy, very memorable film, with one taken away for confusion - the viewer's. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 08, 2005 | | Summary | classic Cronenberg! | Content
| Many people seem to have made great reviews around here. At first, you could say it pales compared to the Matrix movie. It lacks great visual effects, action, dazzling camera work... etc. But as time goes, this movie completely destroys the Matrix! and I mean it. The "philosophical" issues raised by the Matrix seem like a walk in the park compared to this. Typical issues of "existentialism", (a branch of its own in philosophy) are raised all throughout the film. This seems like a favorite topic of Cronenberg in his movies. He always likes to send his audience home thinking.
There are many similarities with his opus Naked Lunch. too many to even start writing them here. This is like Naked Lunch, but where the video game eXistenZ replaces Interzone city and video games in general replace drugs. As usual the cast is flawless. This time I was more impressed with the secondary characters than with the central characters. How could you not like Ian Holm and Willem Dafoe's acting?
I would give it 4.5 but I can't, so I give it a 4. The only reason is because it is just a little bit below the greatness of Naked Lunch. Maybe if Dafoe and Holm had more screen time and the movie was twenty minutes longer, it would be comparable. |
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