The Arrow Reviews

I was personally reeled in like a wiggly trout right away by the film's gnarly and novel religion themed premise, then was kept in its unholy web via its mucho unique mystery (I won't tell). The striking setting in which the madness took place (can't go wrong with the Isle of Man - see The Dark), the chilling atmosphere at play, the serviceable directing and the seldom suspenseful bits made the ride go down smooth as well. Thank Zeus above (or is it below) that the oh so "bangable" Christina Ricci was in top form as per usual, hence giving me a lead character that I wanted to hang with. Of course the fact that the "Riccies" in her bra were often draped in tight and flattering tops, also helped matters in that department. Yes I'm a simple man, stimulated by simple things i.e. tits. Furthermore, I'm happy to report (well not that happy...) that the kid (well played by Harry Forrester) the story was centered around was NOT annoying and actually made for an efficient "tool" to get some anxiety rolling. Very rare in my world! Finally the last block of the flick spanked where it count with some swell violence, minor thrills and efficient chills.

Problem was, as-is, the film would've made a better short than feature, as it spread its meat way too thin making way for a lumbering middle section. Although I was far from bored, I can't say that I got too excited either. The middle 40 minutes of this ride went a little bit like this: the mystery is being uncovered cut away to Ricci meeting peeps and having visions - cut away to the mystery is being uncovered - cut away to...get my drift? I needed more bumps in the narrative, physical get-downs and more drastic turn of events to get my jockeys in a bunch. Here, redundant was the word while scares were fairly non-existent and hookers was the other word. Yes, hookers. Why? Cause that's who I wanted to call whilst the flick was playing its play and rewind shtick. Finally although the twists abound were pretty damn fly in concept, I did see them coming at least by the halfway mark. Yes they whooped some ass when they surfaced but they also popped out with half of their intended impact since I knew in advance what was what,

All in all The Gathering made for a decent sit down. The film kept me engaged on varied levels, it sported a couple of swell concepts and Ricci was as good as Ricci gets. Too bad the unravelling of events was meh to say the least, the scares scarce and the surprises see-through by the halfway point. You gonna gather round this beeyatch and teach her a lesson or what?