This movie is asstastic.
Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale star as a couple who get lost and end up at a backwoods motel. As all the previews give away, people who stay at this hotel typically end up murdered.
It's about time that Luke Wilson starts getting some respect. I don't think I've seen him fail in a role yet. Here, he's at his best playing the strong male lead opposite Kate Beckinsale's weak female lead. Kate's performance was sort of disorienting to me, someone who has seen Underworld so many times. She'd be breaking down crying and frozen with fear and I'd be thinking "You fought werewolves bitch. Get up and kick ass!" Truth be told, the performances these two put in were fantastic, and unfortunately, wasted on a piece of shit like this film.
Outside of those performances, there is little else that works in this film. In fact, everything seems "forced". I don't know whether the writer or the director takes the blame for that, but you have to be a real piece of Samsonite to not see the flaws in this film.
The film really tries to be a work of suspense despite the previews making it seem to be more of a horror film. The problem is that the suspense is ruined by the ignorance of the whole situation. The events that lead to Luke and Kate ending up at the motel are standard Hollywood "chance" (IE: Bullshit). After that the logic only gets worse as everyone who doesn't work at the hotel, knows about the hotel, but the hotel never has guests. Nobody finds that odd? What purpose does a hotel serve in the middle of nowhere unless it's a "no-tell" motel, which this isn't.
There are soooo many flaws in logic here I could write all day about them. If you're going to kill people, would you let them walk around outside? Would you let them "in" on what's going on and give them opportunities to escape or get help? When there are three of you and cameras EVERYWHERE, would you lose track of them and not immediately be able to figure out where they went?Three fucking guys, with camera, watching a typical motel room that they know everything about, and the victims sneak away with no explanation of what the 3 guys were doing? Horseshit. And it's a very common theme in the film. When the victims are doing something "tricky" the killers aren't around, but as soon as salvation is visible, here they come from the perfect angles and such. Horrible, horrible bullshit.
It is honestly so frustrating to watch a movie like this because you just want to smack the director and ask him what the fuck he was thinking. Movies like this are also a reminder of how people in Hollywood have no concept of how the real world works. A great example is (THE FOLLOWING IS THE BIGGEST SPOILER IF YOU WANT TO SKIP IT) when the victims actually make a 911 call and the cop shows up only to be killed as anyone with an IQ over 10 expects. Well, hours pass and no other cops show up. We're talking night time to day time here. Finally another call is made and the dispatcher says "We blew that call off because we already sent someone out there." What the fuck? Yeah, that's how the real world works, cops go out on calls and just disappear and nobody is concerned. They don't radio in to let dispatch know what's going on, those radios are only for backup. They don't even go back to the station to end their shift. Plain old fucking hollywood stupidity. If a cop went to a 911 call and didn't radio back within a certain period of time that place would've been swarming with cops. It would've been much more suspenseful and realistic has the manager tricked the cop into thinking nothing was wrong while the victims watched helplessly.
There's more crap. Lots more. Lots and lots more. Including a killer walking out of a bathroom hours and hours after he should've been in there (it's towards the end and was done for a scare, but made no sense as to why he'd be in there). The ending though, that's a lot of fun too. The director apparently had no idea when to say "That's a wrap" as the film goes on for several minutes after its logical conclusion.
Argh! I know I ranted and rambled a bit here, but this film deserved it. Two good actors wasted their talents with this steaming pile of shit.
2 out of 10. (1 point each for Luke and Kate, the rest of the film was as shitty as it gets.)
The "Vacancy" is between the writer and director's ears.
Vacancy - Spoilers - You won't care
This movie sucked balls.Leisher wrote:It's about time that Luke Wilson starts getting some respect. I don't think I've seen him fail in a role yet.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
This movie sucked balls.
I have never seen that film.
By the looks of it, you should be ashamed that you did.
I said that I haven't seen him fail in a role, not that he hasn't made a bad film.
“Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.” - Dr Thomas Sowell
It's just not his genre. He looks like a damned troll. Not as much as Owen, but still.Leisher wrote:I have never seen that film.This movie sucked balls.
By the looks of it, you should be ashamed that you did.
I said that I haven't seen him fail in a role, not that he hasn't made a bad film.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."