Re-Cycle.(2006)
Re-Cycle (2006) 5/10
Re-Cycle has an excellent title, because much of what this film offers is essentially a recycled version of old tricks and themes. If you’ve watched as many films as i have, Re-Cycle is likely to give you a sense of deja-vu. Having said that, its one of the most visually impressive HK films in recent years, and to its credits, the CGI blends well with the characters and does not look fake.
The first half of Re-Cycle is basically a rehash of the Eye. Most of the tricks of the trade is used, including judicious use of the water motiff (see Dark Water) and obligatory scary elevator scene. If you have never seen a horror film in your life, the first half might be considered good. But for those who are jaded, the scares in the first half are unimpressive and poorly created, even though it is admittedly visually beautiful.
The second half is what makes the film tick, although the sudden shift from horror to Alice In Wonderland does seem a tad jarring. While i do applaud the originality of taking what would probably have been a standard horror script and turning it into new and interesting directions, alot of the scenes of the ‘new world’ seems very much like a rip-0ff of other, better films. This is a great pity, because the writers essentially had carte blanche to create new and exciting worlds, but alas the resultant effort seems to either reek of plagiarism or simply be too predictable. For example, one scene has Angelica Lee and a child crossing a bridge of the dead where they must not breathe or something to that effect, which is a direct rip-off from Spirited Away. Or the graveyard of dead toys that could have come from a scene in Robots. As for predictability, nothing screams deus ex machina like the old man giving Angelica Lee hell notes which will predictably save her life in a later scene. This is a pity, because while the Pang Bros essentially had a blank potrait to craft a truly remarkable piece of cinema, they instead chose to recycle ideas from their previous films and to take ideas that have been tried out in other films. At least Mirrormask dared to create a new and different world, even i disliked the film.
Plotwise, it is scattered and tends to be a tad manipulative, although i was nevertheless beginning to warm up to the film in the second half. However, i felt that the Pang Bros uses too many deus ex machinas in the film and lacks gusto to create a truly creative film and ends up with a safer, more predictable and ultimately ‘recycled’ film. A pity, because the script had so much potential.
