In “Gothika”, Halle Berry plays Dr. Miranda Grey. She works in the psych ward of a women’s penitentiary, and leads a semi-calm quiet life. One night, after seeing a figure in the road, her car runs off the road. When she wakes up, in what at first seems a lesson in irony, finds she is now a patient in the very same psych ward in which she worked. It appears that while unconscious she somehow murdered her husband (Charles S. Dutton), or at least that’s what she’s being told by her onetime colleague Dr. Graham (Robert Downey, Jr.) who is now treating her. I’ve never really jumped on the ‘Halle Berry’ popularity train. I think she’s a fairly decent actress, but has yet to deliver a performance that is truly deserving of an Oscar. Of course history disagrees with me. The one thing that I have admired her for however is her willingness to take on extremely varied projects. Even after winning an Oscar, Berry still popped up in the “X-Men” sequel, worked on this ‘horror’ movie, and is currently taking the reigns as the new “Catwoman.”

Despite the fact that this last project looks to be laughably bad at best, I still give her credit for not limiting herself to roles that might bring a second Oscar.

As far as psychological thrillers go, “Gothika” really isn’t that bad of a film. The problem is that it’s not really that great of a film, either. It’s just kind of there. The movie is shot in a style that reeks of creepiness, but it rarely gets that creepy. Unfortunately the music kind of warns you when some of the scarier scenes are about to happen, and so you have time to prepare yourself for it. Now to be fair, there are a lot of very disturbing scenes throughout, the most unsettling being one where the ex-Dr. Grey is forced to share a shower with some of the same patients she used to treat. The scene is dark (thankfully), and the patients certainly did not come out of the pages of Playboy. Not to sound too shallow, but ewwwww.

“Gothika” also tries to be a ‘whodunit’ murder mystery, but forgets one very important plot device inherent to this type of film. You need clues that actually mean something, and can lead you to the resolution. It doesn’t matter how puzzling the clues may be on the surface as long as they finally add up at the end. This film leads you towards several different suspects by throwing out any number of red herrings. When the resolution comes, you’re still left pondering the great WWH (what, who, how).

In spite of the film’s shortcomings, the new DVD release of “Gothika” is fairly solid in terms of transfer. At least in the video department. The image is very clear, and as a lot of the film is made up of dark scenes, this is very important. I never had any problems seeing everything I needed to see, and in the case of that shower scene, some things I really didn’t need to see. There were a few problems with the audio though, not so much in all the ambient sounds and music, but in the dialogue. It seemed to get lost sometimes and I really had to listen close to catch everything that was said.

There are only two extras, the first being a commentary director Mathieu Kassovitz and director of photography Matthew Libatique. Unfortunately, it’s not that interesting of a track as their line of conversation sticks mostly to the technical side of the film. It’s just not that lively of a track. Then we have a a music video for Limp Bizkit's cover of The Who’s "Behind Blue Eyes." It’s a fairly good version of the song, and I was surprised to find that Fred Durst actually could sing. The video successfully marries itself to the film by following a story of a doctor and patient who trade places, though it’s not exactly the same story. Halle Berry works opposite Durst in the video, and the one place I had to laugh was at one point when the camera pans to Berry, and she’s mouthing the words to Durst’s singing. It reminded me of Chevy Chase singing as Paul Simon in the classic video “You Can Call Me Al”, though I’m certain this was not the intention of the video’s director.

“Gothika” is a dark and moody piece to be sure, and it is quite slick as far as production values, but it is a movie that depends on imagery more so than telling a good story.

Directed by: Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Halle Berry, Charles S. Dutton, Penelope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr.
Extras: Audio Commentary by Director Mathieu Kassovitz, Music Video – “Behind Blue Eyes” by Limp Bizkit
Specifications: Widescreen (1:85) Enhanced for 16X9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 3/23/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: R (For Sci-fi Violence, Brief Language and Nudity)
Website

We'll give Gothika a C.