Resurrection
dir. russell mulcahy
st. christopher lambert, james kidnie, leland orser
USA, 1999, 108 mins, rated R
Interested in seeing a derivative and unintentionally funny film? Resurrection is a cross between Seven and NYPD Blue and is the most ludicrously funny film I have seen since Showgirls. I could easily describe it as the most woeful movie I have seen in a long while, and I see a lot of films of dubious quality.It's approaching Easter in Chicago and some lunatic is trying to recreate the resurrection of Jesus Christ by murdering people with the names of Apostles and assembling their body parts to represent the body of Christ on the cross. Christopher Lambert is the troubled cop that must stop them. The Highlander team of actor Lambert and director Russell Mulcahy reunite to battle the forces of evil. I am a sucker for action or horror films with a religious angle, so Resurrection was looking good to me from the moment I received my pass. It was looking bad from the first scene, as soon as Lambert opened his mouth.
There is so much about this film that was dreadful. Lambert's acting is abysmal (worse than normal), the story is clichéd beyond redemption, and the direction is aggravating. When Lambert first spoke he was almost unintelligible, I thought he was doing an Arnold Schwarzeneggar impersonation. His accent was overwhelming and it turns out he is meant to be Cajun. The Cajun angle worked for Jean Claude van Damme in Nowhere to Run because van Damme has a strong accent naturally. Nowhere to Run was actually a reasonable film, a fact which had little to do with van Damme and more to do with John Woo's direction and Lance Henrikson as the villain. Lambert mumbles his way through Resurrection and gives a portrayal that can be best described as lame.
It is hard to know where to start in attacking the actual script. Lambert is co-credited with the story, and what a lack of story it is. For some reason Lambert thinks no-one saw Seven, so he can reuse that basic idea, throw in a bunch of cops like in NYPD Blue (one even looks like Denis Franz) and have a decent film. I don't think so. The film never properly explained what the killer hoped to gain by recreating the crucifixion of Christ. We learn what they are doing but never really why. The final confrontation is dull, but the rubber baby the killer holds up is one of the funniest scenes in the film. It was one of the few times the whole audience laughed out loud, and I don't believe that was the intention of the filmmakers. The atmosphere they attempt to create is that of Seven, complete with rain and gory corpses. The dead bodies are the only interesting aspect in the film. Lambert's cop persona is typically troubled and has problems at home and is possibly even more pathetic than John Travolta's character in Face/Off. The film goes nowhere and does so without style.
Aussie director, Russell Mulcahy, appears to have used his text from 'Camera Techniques 101' in this film. He uses every shot at his disposable in creating an annoyingly inconsistent film. One moment we are watching a standard fixed camera scene, then we are bouncing around with the camera moving in the opposite direction to the cast, many of the angles are low so we look up people's noses, the focus jumps erratically from head to head, sometimes people are half in and half out of shot. The film looks like a child shot it. In reality it seems Mulcahey can't decide between shooting a conventional film or something like and episode of Hill Street Blues (which was renowned for its innovative techniques). With efforts like this he could find himself back shooting film clips for a living.
I have recently been introduced to the joys of playing Driver and when Lambert started to careen around the city in his car I had Driver flashbacks. It's sad when a video game is more thrilling than a movie. I just wanted something good to happen in this film and it didn't. Given the quality of the script and acting, perhaps it was meant to be a porn movie and they just forgot to add the sex. Except a porno film would have better camera work.
I must say I was amazed this film was so bad. I usually expect Lambert's films to be bad, but this film was so bad that the audience was in shock, we couldn't leave, we had to sit there and cringe. David Cronenberg must be embarrassed he bothered appearing in it. If I worked on this film I would have demanded my name be excluded from the credits.
sebastian niemand
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