Photos courtesy of Netflix
Fantasy can either go one way or the other. It can be awesome, inspiring the viewer to go out and seek their fortunes
Give it five minutes. It gets weirder.
fighing trolls. Or the cheesiness can overpower the plot, so everything that’s said or done is too contrived to be enjoyed the way it’s supposed to be. This week’s movie tends to fall slightly on the side of the latter, although I do feel that Rotten Tomatoes coud have given it slightly more than a 10 percent rating. Maybe 15 percent would be better.
In Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad’s “Jinn,” Shawn (Dominic Rains) and his wife Jasmine (Serinda Swan) are living a normal life until a VHS tape arrives. It’s a birthday message from Shawn’s departed father, who died along with his wife in a fire 25 years earlier. The tape warns Shawn that he is in danger of a curse against his great grandfather, and he must prepare. Hunted by Jinn, vengeful spirits of fire, Shawn seeks the help of Father Westhoff (William Atherton) and Gabriel (Ray Park) to help him retrieve his wife and fulfill his destiny.
Wait, is this “Harry Potter?”
The story isn’t new, but with with the genre they never tread too far from the hero’s journey. It’s a good foundation for story-telling, with any predicatable steps. The key is to make it so it’s not too obvious that all the writer is relying on are these steps. Ahmad, who’s also the writer and executive producer, seems to have missed the memo. While the overall concept could have really been something, it was too easy. Of course Shawn’s the chosen one. Of course he learns how to defeat evil over the course of a few hours and not days (and with no training montage, surprisingly). Of course he has no flaws. All the focus and energy was drained into making the bad guys and special effects look cool. So much so, that when it came time to crack down on everything else, it seemed they didn’t care enough about substance.
It all pays off visually because the special effects are pretty spectacular. One particular scene that got a few “oohs” out of me was when Gabriel summoned luminescent his supernatural abilities to fend off Jinn-possesed psychiatric patients. It was so pretty, and the music was interesting, but I lost the sense of wonder when he immediately started
Kameeeeeee…
doing unnecessary moves to shank the demons. It was too much; just like the superfluous shots of Shawn’s car. We get that he really loves his sweet ride, and it’s sexy, but there is no reason as to why the car needs to have so much screentime. The prioties are skewed in favor of aesthetics, while sense was passed over.
The acting, while not completey dreadful, was so-so. The chemistry between Rains and Swan was lacking, so any sense of sympathy for the couple never made it past the opening credits. Swan in particular was the weak link in an already weak chain, so her abduction and her tears caused no emotional response. Rains doesn’t humble himself, as a hero often does, so any vulnerable moments looked too fake. As for the other actors, their secondary characters weren’t too important but they managed to be more interesting to watch than the main ones. Typically, it should be the other way around.
Pretty car, not so pretty script.
The effects should never overpower the plot, especially in fantasy films where the visuals are almost always a necessity to make the rules of that world real. “Jinn” was all sparkle, and not enough heart. It was a valiant effort, but without substance there is nothing to hold on to. This could have been really fun, but I just wanted it to end.
