BLINK

Aidan Quinn and Madeleine Stowe

BLINK (1994). Director: Michael Apted.

Emma Brody (Madeleine Stowe), a musician who has been blind since she was eight, has an operation to restore most of her sight. Her vision is still a bit fuzzy, and she has "flashbacks" to things that aren't really there. This doesn't make her the most reliable witness to the murder of an woman in an upstairs apartment. She fears that she's being stalked, but can't make a positive identification in a line-up. As the killer murders other women, Detective Hallstrom (Aidan Quinn) fears Emma will be next on the list. Blink is the kind of thriller in which the detective on the case has sex with the chief witness -- again and again and again -- which already stretches credibility, and it isn't helped by the fact that Hallstrom comes off like an incompetent asshole. Quinn [Frankenstein] does his best with this terrible part, but is defeated, while pretty Stowe gives an okay performance but generates all the warmth of a dyspeptic cobra. What a team! (This cold quality of Stowe's served her well when she played a scheming villainess on the TV show Revenge.) There are some clever aspects to the mystery angle of the story, including the killer's motive, but Blink has absolutely no style and little tension aside from a brief scene in an underground parking garage. Laurie Metcalf has virtually nothing to do as Emma's friend, but James Remar, Peter Friedman, and Paul Dillon have more of a chance to make an impression as a cop, doctor, and orderly respectively. This might have amounted to something if it had been helmed by Brian De Palma in his heyday, but the slack direction, dubious plot points, and moments of increasing ridiculousness do not add up to anything that memorable. It also becomes boring, the most unforgivable thing of all. Apted also directed The Triple Echo and The World is Not Enough.

Verdict: Not even nudity can save this one. **.

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN (1994)

Robert De Niro

MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN (1994). Director: Kenneth Branagh.

Kenneth Branagh [Wallander; Sidetracked] both directed and plays Victor Frankenstein in this version of the venerable story, that -- as expected, regardless of the title -- plays as fast and loose with Mary Shelley as any other Frankenstein movie. Unlike the novel, the film shows us the man who became the basis of the monster, and in a ridiculous scene that borders on travesty, Victor tries to bring Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter of Dark Shadows) back to life! Tom Hulce plays Henry Clerval, with Aidan Quinn as Captain Walton and Ian Holm [Another Woman] as the elder Baron Frankenstein. When I first saw this I was rather appalled by Robert De Niro's performance as the monster, but he seemed a bit better this time around. The actors are all good, but none are great, and the time frame is all wrong. This has a handsome production, but Patrick Doyle's score, while good, is frequently over-dramatic.

Verdict: "Mary Shelley's" Frankenstein this isn't! **1/2.