Gruesome Violence Elevates This Pulpy, Sci-Fi Throwback

Brandon Cronenberg made his function movie debut in 2012 with Antiviral, an unsettling exploration of a world by which society turns into so obsessive about celebrities that they search viruses which have beforehand handed by means of well-liked performers to contaminate themselves, simply to share such an intimate reference to their idols. It was a disturbing prediction of issues to return, which blended some high-concept concepts with disturbing visuals to cement himself as a filmmaker to observe. Virtually a decade later, the filmmaker affords audiences his follow-up endeavor, Possessor Uncut, serving extra as a throwback to basic detective tales, that includes among the 12 months’s most ugly gore, which enriches the comparatively anticipated narrative to a daunting diploma.

Within the not-too-distant future, know-how has superior to the purpose of permitting somebody to insert their consciousness into one other particular person’s physique, affording them the chance to control that particular person nevertheless they so want. This tech has been embraced by a company that carries out assassinations in methods too convincing to have any kind of foul play thought of. Achieved murderer Tasya (Andrea Riseborough) accepts a mission to enter the physique of tech worker Colin (Christopher Abbott), although her grip on actuality begins to slide whereas Colin’s psyche struggles to be subdued, because the pair try and overpower the opposite to keep up management of Colin’s physique.

Cinematic narratives that includes makes an attempt to regulate the physique of another person are removed from being recent territory, with Colin’s quest to acquire management over his personal physique and detective work to search out out what’s occurring to him leading to a cat-and-mouse sport we have seen numerous occasions. For as usually as we see such tales unfold, we additionally see narratives that purpose to supply distinctive twists on such tales, with Possessor being refreshing for the way little it does to attempt to reinvent the idea. Because the mysteries of the movie unfold, you will absolutely be reminded of experiences like Being John Malkovich or Inception, however quite than try and shock the viewer with surprising or complicated mythos to assist the idea, solely minimal clarification is obtainable, including a timeless ingredient to the journey. One sequence involving Colin’s use of VR and surveillance tools does inject a semblance of realism to the idea, teasing that we’re just a few years off from such the alternatives offered within the movie changing into possible, but it solely barely grounds a movie that did not essentially want any grounding.

The character of the story requires each Riseborough and Abbott to depict almost fixed states of bewilderment and shock, with each performers conveying the right mix of mystified and subdued reactions to invoke empathy to their conditions. Abbott has to do extra of the heavy lifting, having not solely to convey the precise Colin but additionally the Tasya performing as Colin, with vacant facial expressions staying refined in conditions the place he may have performed up potential confusion. The supporting forged of Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tuppence Middleton are all unsurprisingly efficient, although it is Abbott’s muted reactions that promote the premise.

At its core, the general trajectory of Possessor does not essentially maintain any surprises, however Cronenberg’s imaginative and prescient for the journey is what actually elevates the pulpy journey. The filmmaker usually embraces low-tech components to convey extremely cerebral themes, whether or not we’re seeing Tasya’s physique bodily soften as her thoughts enters Colin’s physique or because the battle between the 2 personas is realized because the characters try and overpower each other in a manifestation of existential areas. Whereas different movies envisioning such superior know-how would probably craft visually participating items of apparatus, Cronenberg’s concepts of such gadgets aren’t far more superior than picturing somebody plugging a pair of headphones right into a stereo.

What actually makes this expertise a standout is its “Uncut” nature. The movie premiered earlier this 12 months on the Sundance Movie Competition, with this Uncut model of the movie retaining the extraordinary violence of that debut screening, whereas an R-rated lower of Possessor can even be made obtainable, holding again on among the extra brutal elements of the idea. Nonetheless, it was that brutality and people visceral visuals that basically elevated the expertise past the anticipated twists and turns of the narrative, so it is troublesome to infer if a tamer model of the movie shall be as efficient.

Possessor Uncut does not reinvent the wheel of the twisted murder-mystery style, however by merely being a reliable entry into that lexicon after numerous entries have tread redundant floor makes the movie a welcome new installment, whereas the visuals and general unrelenting brutality make for a hypnotic and harrowing gauntlet, additional cementing Cronenberg as some of the promising filmmakers in style storytelling.

Score: four out of 5

Possessor Uncut lands in choose theaters and drive-ins on October 2nd and on Digital HD and VOD on November sixth.