Under the Skin: Movie Review

You may have heard of this critically acclaimed sci-5 thriller art film on many Top Ten lists in 2013 and 2014. Roger Ebert rated it an A+. Regular viewers on Amazon rated the film 3/5 stars.  The film can be labelled a box office bomb. Why such the split? I took a chance and watched for myself. Here's what I thought.

Notice the face I make after that shot...yea that's what i thought about this film. Shout out to BOSTON COLLEGE!

The film could be summarized as a seductress (Scarlett Johansson) of unknown alien origin luring lonely men into their doom, until she decides she wants to be human. At least that's what it looks like, because there is very little in the way of dialogue. This is the most minimalist approach to dialogue I've experienced in a film. The silence is haunting. The soundtrack is alien clicks, and synphs heighten the sense of doom you know these men will experience. From an audio and art perspective, this is a wonderful exploration of how visuals and sounds evoke the story.

Where the films falls apart is where it lacks in story. While I'm ok with using my imagination to fill in the gaps, in Under the Skin the viewer tends to get so lost in the sounds and visuals that it gets on your nerves rather than under your skin. What exactly is going on in this movie? Why is a motorcyclist after our alien seductress? The motorist's role is so minimal it's hardly worth shooting any scenes with him.

Johansson is very beautiful (rated by Esquire Mag as the most beautiful woman in 2014), but her character's motivations are rather unclear. What exactly makes her want to be human? What the hell does she want with these males anyway? These questions ultimately go unanswered.

The stand outs in the film like i mentioned are the visuals and the themes of sexuality and gender. A female as the predator and men as her prey. How transgressive! The exploration of the exploitation or sexualization of the female form is interesting to note in the film's ending where (SPOILER) our protagonist alien literally rips her skin off, abandoning her want for humanity.

As art this film is great. As a thriller, it has moments (there is a sequence with an unexpected POP jolted me out of my sleep--cause the quiet did put me to sleep), but those moments were few and far between. Overall I agree with my Amazon Prime family. 3 out of 5 stars.

Under the Skin is available for viewing on most VoD sites. I viewed mine relatively for free on Amazon Prime.