Today we posted a second opinion of Paramount Pictures' The Ruins, which is now in theaters everywhere. Read on for David Harley's mixed review. The film follows four American friends on vacation in Cancún, Mexico—Jeff, Amy, Eric and Stacy—who meet a German tourist, Mathias, and persuades them to join his hunt for his younger brother, Henrich, last seen headed off with a new girlfriend toward some ruins. The four soon regret their impulsive decision after they find themselves lost in the jungle and freaked out by signs that they’re headed for danger.
The Ruins
David Harley
2.5/5 Skulls
Usually when I write up a review, I always keep spoilers to a bare minimum. With this review for THE RUINS, that will not be the case. Not because I intentionally want to spoil the film for you but because I think everyone needs to understand where I am coming from with this adaptation of Scott Smith's novel. I've sat here, trying to formulate a way around “ruining” the film for you but it reads very poorly. Be at ease though, I will give fair warning before I potentially spoil something. So, without further ado...
A few months ago, while THE RUINS was in production, I was told that I really needed to read the excellent source material, written by the same guy who penned A Simple Plan. After a lot of procrastinating, I finally picked up the audio book from the library late last week, not because I hate reading but just because it was the easiest way for me to finish the book in time before the screening here in town.
The book, while being good, was, I felt, nothing special. Maybe it was because I had been hearing really great things about it for months. However, I didn't feel there was any meat to the story. Similar to the film version, the book tells the story of two couples on a vacation in Mexico. They meet a German tourist, Mathias, whose brother ran off with an archaeologist to a excavation a few hours away from their resort. Deciding that it would be nice to do something besides sit on the beach and get wasted, the four Americans go off with Mathias to find the site. Following a map that Mathias' brother left for him, the group stumbles upon an offbeat trail in the forest, which led to the ruins. A group of Mayan Indians show up and start yelling at them to vacate the area. Our character's have no idea what their saying, since they don't speak the language and one of the girls, Amy, steps on a plant. The Indians instantly freak out and chase them up the ruins. The Indians seem pretty adamant about the tourists not leaving, as they are camped out at the base of the structure and will kill anyone who comes down. So, our characters try to formulate a plan. However, there is something very odd about the ruins. This might be a SPOILER for some of you (though I don't know how, as the poster and trailer basically shove it in your face) but the vines and plants covering the ruins are alive. In fact, they're man-eating.
The problem I had with the book was that although it was a great premise it wasn’t exciting. Since I listened to it on CD, I don’t know the page length of the book but I can tell you it took e approximately 15 hours to listen through. In my opinion, the story would have been really great if it had been about 8 hours long. There were just far too many pointless conversations about relationships and childhood memories, most of them being had by whiny characters. There were whole CDs dedicated to arguments, which I would've skipped through had I known there was nothing that drove the plot forward on them. I will admit that there were some very horrific and tense moments in the book but not enough to even out the story as a whole. If there was one thing that book really had going for it, it was a sense of hopelessness. (SPOILER) None of the kids make it out at the end, as the plants inside the ruins were inescapable. If they stay, the plants will kill them. If they tried to leave, the Indians will kill them. It was a lose/lose situation. (END SPOILER)
Now, THE RUINS ran 88 minutes by my watch which fixed the problem of awful pacing the book had. The pacing was, by far, one of the highlights of the film. For those of you who have seen Inside, the pacing is similar to that. It gets into the death and destruction almost right away. The inane arguments are kept to kept to an palpable minimum and the action is plentiful enough that I never felt bored.
The script, which was written by Scott Smith, is very uneven. A friend of mine, who is a very huge Sam Raimi fan, told me right before the screening that Smith had also adapted A Simple Plan, which he had written the novel for, and that while it was nominated for an Oscar, it was sort of campy. I've never seen A Simple Plan but if its anything like THE RUINS, then yes, it probably was. For example, the couples argue about how they're going to escape and Jeff, the “hero” character of the movie, tells them that someone will come looking for them because “Four American tourists do not just disappear in a foreign country.” Now, the way the scene was presented, that was not supposed to be funny. At all. Yet, the entire audience erupted in laughter. I laughed too, not because it was funny but because it was pitiful. There were also a few “jump” scare scenes that the audience absolutely cracked up through. In fact, anything that was suppose to frightening (Not the shocking/gory scenes though because those actually worked) made everyone laugh. I want to state for the record that I am a huge fan of bad/campy movies but the reason those films work is because they work as a campy production on the whole. Whether its supposed to be that way or its unintentional, there is enough camp throughout the film to make that angle work. Here, it’s tossed in very randomly, not really gelling with the vibe the rest of the film has going for it.
The actors for the most part, seemed to do their job well enough. I'm going to single out Jena Malone here, because I've really liked every movie I've seen her in (Saved!, Donnie Darko, Into The Wild). To her credit, the source material called for her character to be whiny, wimpy and annoying. So, she played it well. Its just... I wish the character wasn't so annoying because I wanted her to die so I wouldn't have to listen to her mouth anymore. She was also written as the slutty girl, who cheats on her boyfriend. Its not that I find her to be unattractive, its just that she doesn't carry that demeanor about her. To me, that was the most unbelievable thing about the movie.
The ending of THE RUINS is something that a lot of you are going to hate. This paragraph is going to be one giant SPOILER so skip past it if you don't want to know the ending of the film. As I mentioned earlier when talking about the book, the theme of hopelessness runs rampant throughout the story, which is something I really, really liked. Not every story can end in sunshine happiness and flowers. THE RUINS was actually shot with four different ending, which means the film either went through a lot of re-shoots or they actually wanted this to be the first Pick-Your-Own-Adventure movie since Clue. Mr. Disgusting actually saw a different ending than I did and the ending he saw was very Hollywood (i.e. it set up a possible sequel). But, at least some hopelessness was left in his, which happened to be completely vacant from mine. The tribe of Indians in the movie are presumably just as old the plant life in the ruins. You get the feeling they've been quarantining people and the plants for a long time. They soil the grounds surrounding the ruins so the plants won't spread into the forest and even the animal life don't go anywhere near the area. Yet, two 20-something year olds outwit the entire tribe and Amy (Jena Malone) escapes. Not only does this not fit in with the experience the Indians have but it completely ruins the hopelessness of the situation. It ruins the best thing I thought the movie had going for it.
While THE RUINS might have many problems, it still kept me planted in my seat. If you're a fan of the book, maybe you'll like it. I wasn't and maybe my pre-conceived notions about how disappointing the book was ruined the movie for me. The film has some great gore and some genuinely tense moments but I found it to be just as average as the novel.
First off I hated the movie for changing what to me were very important parts of the books Ie: what happened to who and who was there, because it took away from everything the characters talked about and how they related.
Secondly I really enjoyed the book, maybe the experience is ruined a bit on audio as the book is really written from everyones perspective and what they think of themselves and the others and how they get broken down, and doing that in your mind while reading and making the characters your own probably works better than just hearing everything said to you.
i dont think the movie was overhyped at all...
much better than 2.5 skulls. i would say about 3.5
the movie has really seemed to divide a lot of people haha
Really Katherine? Check out the Encarta dictionary... http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_561593915/without_further _ado.html
It can be spelled either way.
Thank you, horrorfreak889, you're absolutely right. This guy has no taste. Perhaps someone should tell him that horror movies can be a lot more than just tits and blood. In fact, I've seen some very scary movies that had no tits or blood at all. And why would he complain about any of the characters being whiny? Does he think that when you're trapped in such a hopeless and miserable situation of slowly impending death, people are going to hoot and holler in jubilation? And to say that a movie's failure to be fun and exciting makes it bad is more bullshit; if a situation were fun and exciting, it wouldn't be horrific. Horror is not exclusively murder and monsters, okay, Spanky?
How does her escaping ruin the hopelessness of everything??? She had the plant spore all over her clothes, so she IS infected, and will eventually die like the rest, and actually pass the infection to the outside world. Seemed to me like it only ADDED hopelessness!
I thought it was a fantastic movie, with great acting and characters...something many horror movies don't have these.
Mr. Disgusting - This guy isn't good at reviewing movies. Seriously. I'd re-think posting any further reviews from him. They're not well written and it reflects poorly on your website, making it look amateur (even though I find your site to be very professional, because the reviews are generally well written). I hope you take this into consideration.
Is this guy so incapable of even the slightest empathy that he can't enjoy a horror film unless he's laughing and pumping his fist as people are being stabbed to death?
While I did find this review a further insight into the film which I have been wanting to see. It does seem like a personal review and does not really take into account any of the technical aspects of the film or how other people might perceive it. "fans of the book may like it, but i did not"... How does that inform us professionally?
I can sort of forgive him if it was his intention to back-up The previous review with a bit more (or more of the same?) information but if that was not the case then I apologize but David Harley needs to do better next time.
This was not meant to offend by the way. I just thought it might be helpful in the future.
Guys, I want to address a few of the concerns you guys have about this review. It looks like its about to turn into the next Halloween review comment section!
Katherine, I apologize about my comment last night. Saying "adieu" would have actually been completely incorrect. That would mean I was saying, "Without further goodbye", which doesn't make sense. I don't know exactly where you reside but that is the American spelling of the word. I'm not sure how anyone else uses it. I'm saying that to be confrontational either. I'm just pointing out why I spelled it that way.
Analog, like I said, I was pretty strapped for time when I picked up the audio book so thats why I chose to go that route. Maybe it is better as a written piece but it just didn't do it for me. So far, my experience with audio books has shown me that if its a good story, Im going to like it no matter what medium the novel is in.
Horrorfreak, were you not the person who started a thread in the forum, asking where the review was for this movie? And then you commented on how you didn't take any of our reviews seriously(you actually singled out Mr. D) because they were stupid? Were you looking for A review or just one that you could completely agree with? I urge you to write a review for this film in the user review section. Let you voice be heard! Thats why its there. It's OK to disagree with me. It does seem like you're going overboard by asking me to stop writing because you don't agree with me though. :/
APK, are you from Apopka, FL? I used to live there and we abbreviated the city name that way.
Wharmon, some of my favorite horror films contain very little violence, no nudity and little gore. I actually only mention the violence in passing in my review and don't even mention the nudity. So, I don't know how you got that idea. Did you see The Mist? That is an excellent example of how you take a lose/lose situation (stay inside and die with a crazy religious woman and monsters or go outside and face certain death). None of the characters are whiny, despite their situation, and all of them are easy to relate to. This movie was never meant to be fun, it was meant to be entertaining, which it did not accomplish for me. When I said that book wasn't exciting, it was because there was a lot of unneeded conversations and it just seemed to be left in to give the book a higher page count. The movie did not have that problem. I actually mentioned that its pace was a huge pro. It just didn't entertain me as much as it could have. And, are you telling me you've never seen a fun horror movie? If you haven't, you're missing out on some great flicks.
Saturday, could you please tell me why this isn't a good review? I appreciate feedback. I've actually heard good things about this review from others and Im curious about what you don't like about it. Is it just because you don't like my opinion? My style? What?
Paultree, yes, this review is personal. Every review that anyone writes should be personal. If I wanted to take into account how someone else could or will perceived the film, I would ask them. You can't take into account what everyone else thinks about the film when you're writing a review, otherwise it wouldn't be your opinion. That quote you listed informs you that I am trying to give people who liked the novel hope that they might like it. I personally did not. The majority of people that did like it that I talked to, though, also liked the book. I have actually not read Mr. D's review in months, since he first put it up. I don't remember what was in it at all. In fact, I usually don't read other people's when I am writing, as I think it might affect what I have to say. I understand that you were not trying to be rude or anything by offering your opinion. Like I said before, I like feedback. So, thanks for at least being polite about it.
To everyone in general, my 2.5 score seems to really upset you. To me, 2.5 skulls means that its average. Not that its good, not thats its bad. It's just there. I think some of you have taken on the assumption that I hated this movie. I did not hate this movie, I just did not think it was anything special.
Like I said, this comment I'm leaving is just to address the concerns you guys have. I am all about interacting with people who use this site so if you really want to talk about it, you can PM in the forums or something if you'd like.
-David
I haven't seen the movie yet as I'm still reading the book but I will agree with David's comments about there being unneeded conversations in the book. The book seems like it has to show each person's perspective on every incident (pedro's legs, eric's cutting, going down in the the hole) that pops up in the book and it gets a little annoying to read about the same thing over and over again.
I liked the book, but I've been really sick with a 102 degree fever all weekend. I'm better now, so I'm seeing it tomorrow or Tuesday. And just to let you all know, this bombed, and Prom Night is going to be a hit at the box office, so expect more PG-13 horror coming our way. :(
Finally, someone agrees with me that this movie was not that good. (SolidusSnake00Z). I didnt read the book so I can not compare it to that. The movie just was not enough to scare me or even thrill me it was very predictable. The dialog was wooden and even comical when it was supossed to be serious. The acting was just enough to get by. God, please send me a good horror movie this year that I have nightmares for a week.
Solidus, despite me not adding that in the review, I agree with the lazy killings. One in particular was extremely lazy, to the point where I felt insulted.
Which one in particular did you feel was lazy? Just curious...haven't seen it yet but I know most of the fates came from the book with what character gets what switched around.
You thought it was intense when the guy who has been plotting the entire movie to make a run for it was arbitrarily stabbed in the chest by his undeveloped character of a girlfriend who in weak verbal exposition was revealed to be psychotic? What was more intense: the fact that his death was not at the hands of the Maya even though that would pay off and at least finish his character arc OR that in accidentally killing him the girlfriend realized that she was crazy and begged to be euthanized even though that would bring the survivor count to the conventional "last two" boyfriend and girlfriend characters who would either have to make it or one die, thus eliminating the chance of seeing some actually intense conflict with the as-of-then semi-unrevealed villian?
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Usually when I write up a review, I always keep spoilers to a bare minimum. With this review for THE RUINS, that will not be the case. Not because I intentionally want to spoil the film for you but because I think everyone needs to understand where I am coming from with this adaptation of Scott Smith's novel. I've sat here, trying to formulate a way around “ruining” the film for you but it reads very poorly. Be at ease though, I will give fair warning before I potentially spoil something. So, without further ado...
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