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493 reviews in total

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145 out of 174 people found the following review useful:
A well-crafted film deflated by the Matrix-sodden expectations of an effects-obsessed audience., 14 July 2000
Author: dbignell from Nottingham, England

I feel compelled to speak up for this film against the spoilt ravings of the it-said-it-was-like-the-Matrix-but-I-didn't-see-any-cool-computer-graphics-a nywhere crowd that have dominated these pages.

There seem to be two schools of thought on the use of special effects in movies. The prevalent theory - depressingly common among film goers and film-makers alike - seems to be that a good effect should stand out of a film and make the audience coo like a pigeon. If you subscribe to that theory, fine, watch the Matrix and be happy. If you think that a special effect is a means to an end, a way to portray a fictional vista as a believable realism, then watch eXistenZ and marvel at how a grotesque and visceral world can be made so engrossingly real and intriguing. This film has its fair share of effects, but they are so well grafted into the ethos the film evokes that you just won't notice them on first viewing. And in contrast with the current trend towards computer-generated effects, Cronenburg knows the value of his tactile world; the physical creativity involved in the gristle-gun building scene is a fantastic example.

Okay, so virtual reality has been used many times as a concept - and by films that actually came BEFORE the Matrix too - but the totality with which this film portrays its own organic brand of VR is truly engrossing. Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh are utterly watch-able and the chemistry between them is the perfect vehicle to lead an audience through the admittedly gruesome situations the film describes.

There is an element of old-fashioned escapist fantasy in this film that manages to be strangely endearing despite the gore and I suggest that this is where the film triumphs - a triumph that can be attributed to clever writing, intelligent acting and characterisation, a compelling story, charismatic leads, a vivid and disciplined imagination and the discerning use of effects and visual style.

If the Matrix is an `oooh, aaah' sort of film, then this is more an `oooh, eeugh' movie - but don't allow the glare of the Matrix to dull your senses to the darker appeal of eXistenZ.

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120 out of 136 people found the following review useful:
Truly unique, 9 April 2002

Author: bjrubble from SF, CA

Everybody seems to compare this to The Matrix and The 13th Floor, and when I first saw it I would have agreed -- I was expecting The Matrix and was a little disappointed. But upon repeated viewings my respect for this movie has grown immensely.

The thing to keep in mind is that The Matrix is a great action movie with some philosophical mumbo-jumbo thrown in. The 13th Floor is a passable action movie with some slightly more interesting philosophical mumbo-jumbo thrown in. Existenz is not an action movie at all, and is not (as many seem to believe) about "reality" or any such "deep" concept. It's about the human tendency to intentionally replace reality with an artificial (both in its origin and in its behavior) world of make-believe.

The most chilling moment in the movie is when Allegra Geller repeats her "scripted" line. It's at that point you realize that the people in the game have voluntarily surrendered their free will in order to participate in a story. This is made even more frightening at the end when D'Arcy Nader (or rather his player) comments on the possibility of spending one's life in the game. I sympathize completely with the "realist" philosophy, that providing interesting worlds in which people simply locate the correct predefined path to the end goal is ultimately a recipe for a soulless existence. Living "in the game" is not living at all, but is a tempting way to spend one's time on earth. As Allegra comments about the real world, "there's nothing going on here." Might as well jack into someone else's imagination, and pretend to be doing something interesting. (Although I have to ask whether Cronenberg considers this a self-indictment, considering that he himself offers up worlds to be experienced in 90 minute snippets.)

Upon leaving the theater after first watching this movie, I thought it was one of those movies that was watchable only to see how it ended. But having seen it a couple more times (thank you SciFi Channel) I've realized how much deeper it goes. Seriously, if you've only seen it once, it deserves another viewing.

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84 out of 102 people found the following review useful:
an existential psychotropic trip, 26 January 2004

Author: peter_vangoethem from Belgium

David Cronenberg, much like colleague David Lynch, is an acquired taste. A director who plays with themes like reality, perversion, sex, insanity and death, is bound to get the most extreme reations from audiences. He proved this with films as The Fly, Naked Lunch, Crash and eXitenZ (capital X, capital Z) and more recently, Spider. It's best to see eXistenZ with a clear mind. Try not to read too much about the plot, or it'll be ruined for you. What I can tell you is that Cronenberg takes you on a trip down into the world of videogames that acts as a metaphor for any kind of escapist behaviour. Living out fantasies is something people always dream of, but how far can you go into it, before reality gets blurred and the fantasy takes over and turns into a nightmare? Those are the themes touched in eXistenZ, an exploration of identity, the human psyche, physical bodies being invaded by disease and most importantly, reality itself.

The story and directing are excellent. Cronenberg knows his trade very well and succesfully brings to life an artificial world, avoiding the usual pitfalls and clichés linked to stories such as this. The film shows some pretty disgusting stuff, but is unusually low-key in the gore department in comparison to Cronenbergs other work. The shock effects he plays on are never over the top and the plot progression is very intelligent and creative. It's not the most intellectual movie ever, but it will leave you thinking about it, wondering and pretty confused.

The acting gets two thumbs up as well. Both protagonists, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law, play their parts perfectly and cleverly portray their character's shifting moods and identities. The dialogue may seem a little stale and clinical at times, but that is part of the effect Cronenberg was going for, to create a disaffected and alien atmosphere that puts you quite at unease. Supporting actors as Ian Holm, Don McKellar and an especially creepy Willem Dafoe lift the movie even higher with their disturbingly familiar performances.

This movie takes some getting used to, but if you can appreciate the dark tone, blood-curdeling imagery and existentially warping story, you'll love it.

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128 out of 191 people found the following review useful:
"Death to the demon The Matrix!", 14 July 2001
Author: INFOFREAKO from Perth, Australia

'eXistenZ' sorts out the men from the boys. That is, your reaction to this marvellous movie will depend whether you are S.F. literate and familiar with Cronenberg's oeuvre, or a 'Matrix'-loving, Johnny-come-lately. Now I enjoy 'The Matrix' as a superior action movie, but no movie in recent years has been so overrated, and grossly exaggerated as intellectual fare! 'eXistenZ' and Alex Proyas' similarly overlooked 'Dark City' are everything 'The Matrix' claims to be - intelligent, thought provoking, CHALLENGING S.F.

This movie is almost a summary of all the themes and motifs that Cronenberg has been obsessed about for the last 25 years or so. Especially the Burroughsian "biological horror" and the Phildickian questioning of reality. While it echoes many of his previous movies, it especially evokes his masterpiece 'Videodrome'. It may not reach the hallucinogenic heights of that movie - very few have - but it certainly takes you to places most contemporary S.F. and horror movies don't even try to reach.

However this movie isn't just Cronenberg rehashing his "greatest hits". There are more than enough new and interesting touches, especially the Rushdie-like Fatwah theme, the odd sexual symbolism, and the witty touches such as the bone guns that fire teeth. Helping all this along is the interesting, carefully chosen cast. All are good, but I especially like Willem Dafoe's creepy garage mechanic, and it was also great to see Canadian cult star Don McKellar ('Highway 61', 'Twitch City',etc) as the enigmatic "Russian" Yevgeny.

'Videodrome' has taken many years to find its real audience, and maybe 'eXistenz' will too. But I believe eventually it will be recognised for what it is - a work of great imagination and flair.

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40 out of 52 people found the following review useful:
Get ready for one wild ride!, 25 April 1999
Author: Ben Rowland from Toronto, Canada

By far the most bizarre and inventive films from David Cronenberg, and a film that is sure to become a cult classic. The story cannot easily be summarized in a small review without spoiling the movie completely, so you'll have to see it for yourself.

The special effects are well done, but thankfully not overdone. The film relies mainly on the chemistry between Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law, who plug in and out of the game throughout the movie, and what is actually the real world become less clear as the movie goes on. The violence and carnage, which Cronenberg has become famous for, certainly catches you off guard at times. In fact, some scenes will send a shiver up your spine. The acting is superb, with Jennifer Jason Leigh playing a convincing hero, while Jude Law is excellent as the uneasy, often unwilling participant in her mind-boggling game. Willem Dafoe is, as always, a treat to watch as the mysterious, intimidating, and off-the-wall characters he is so good at playing.

eXistenZ is the most unusual Cronenberg film to date, and that is saying something when comparing to his earlier movies like Shivers, Scanners, and Videodrome. It has a great script, great direction, and the idea behind the film is pure gold. Cronenberg is definitely one of the most daring and original directors of our time.

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47 out of 72 people found the following review useful:
a wicked head trip, 16 September 2005

Author: Richard Graham from United Kingdom

Who should watch this film? Anyone who has ever taken acid, read Philip K. Dick, thought the premise of the Matrix was better then the special effects, has an interest in Philosophy, or likes having their sense of reality messed with. I laughed out loud at this film, just because it was so outrageous and so spot-on. This film is great. This film is cool. It is better than the Matrix, by a long shot (I didn't fall asleep in Existenz, for a kick off: action/special effects films bore me stupid, and despite a plausible philosophical gloss, that is exactly what the Matrix is). Existenz is gross, it is disturbing, and it is funny. David Cronenberg has done some shonky stuff (Rabid) and some works of genius too (Videodrome is another one worth checking out, as is Stephen King adaptation The Dead Zone). But this is one of my all-time favourites. I can't remember the ending- which is a good thing, cos it means I can watch it again. Or perhaps I never watched this film at all. Maybe it's an implanted memory. Or maybe it 'really' happened to me. I don't know. At any rate, it is now seamlessly stitched into my overall illusion of reality, and I'm glad.

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47 out of 72 people found the following review useful:
hyper-reality shocks!, 14 July 2003

Author: big-red from Istanbul

David Cronenberg's `eXistenZ' is a well designed reflection of the philosophy of existentialism. It addresses the problems of a culture that is plugged into technology that it can no longer distinguish between fantasy and reality or between the organic and the mechanical. The movie shocks the audience with its replacement of mechanical technology with organic, metabolismic one. In this context the technology is able to be part of human body. After playing the virtual reality game of `eXistenZ', the real world feels like a game and as a result, human behavior change in order to apply violent game-urges even when the game is over. In eXistenZ, technology has evolved from machinery to biological organisms that plug directly into the human nervous system; an idea that reflects Marshall McLuhan's belief who is a well known media theorist, that computers are extensions of human consciousness. Like telephone is an extention of the ear, television is an extention of the eye, telegram is an extention of the central nervous system high-tech virtual reality is an extention of human consciousness. In eXistenZ, technology is biological and thus more human than it is in our world. But as technology becomes organic, humans become more mechanical and therefore less free, unable to resist their game-urges. eXistenZ is a virtual realty simulation of man's existence. Jean Baudrillard describes a mediated society in his book of Simulacra and Simulation, which all power to act has been transformed to appear. The world has passed into a pure simulation of itself. In eXistenZ it is obvious to see Baudrillard's mediated society with the themes of the invasion of the body, the loss of control and the transformation of the self into other.

While you are in the eXistenZ, consciousness slowly replaces with another identity, your role in the game, which is a reflection each individual's real life subconscious. While you gain the control of your hyperreal life step by step, the aura of your real life disappers. For Baudrillard, `.simulations or simulacra, have become hyperreal, more than real.' Our hyperreality, like Cronenberg's world of computer simulation, `.now feels, and, for all intents and purposes is, more real than what we call the real world.' (Baudrillard) The purpose of the game which can basically be called 'experience' is quite metaphorical. Because you can not even know what is experience unless you experience it. As existentialists say that, life without an exact explanation is absurd, the game of eXistenZ is absurd too. Cronenberg, ironically reflects the absurdity of our lives. For instance, in the game, the other roles just stand still unless you ask them a pre-programmed question. And when you put their aimless funny looking state of being into the representation of our lifes, the exposed absurdity really shocks.

The theme of the game is to understand what it is for? This hidden metaphorical question creates anguish over the people who play eXistenZ. They have no doubt about their existence, however they do not know the underlying reason of their existence. The essence.

Existentialists have held that human beings do not have a fixed nature, or essence, as other animals and plants do; each human being makes choices that create his or her own nature. In the formulation of the 20th-century French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, existence precedes essence. `Choice is therefore central to human existence, and it is inescapable; even the refusal to choose is a choice. Freedom of choice entails commitment and responsibility. Because individuals are free to choose their own path, existentialists have argued, they must accept the risk and responsibility of following their commitment wherever it leads.' Perhaps I should mention, `eXistenZ' deals with the concept of freedom of choice too. You achieve your final role in the game by taking right decisions. If you don't than the game becomes irrevelant and boring. So, you begin to interrogate the game, your existence rather than your essence. You suddenly become schzopfrenically alianated from the game and realize your position outside the game. Well as a last word, eXistenZ is a well designed reverse simulation of life thus existentialism.

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23 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
A Shaggy Dog Story...but a good one, 19 November 2006

Author: hengir from London, England

"We're both stumbling around together in this unformed world, whose rules and objectives are largely unknown, seemingly indecipherable or even possibly nonexistent, always on the verge of being killed by forces that we don't understand." So says Ted Pikul in the film. Which for some people sums up life and 'eXistenZ' probably is a film about existence. What is real and what is unreal and how you tell the difference. Or not. The last line of the film is superbly ambiguous.

The film seems like a shaggy dog story (indeed it has a real shaggy dog in it) but it takes you along on an interesting ride, full of provocative Cronenberg touches that will make you look at amphibians, game pods, fish, spines and bones in a new light. Some bits are quite icky. It takes place in a rural setting where the gas station is called 'GAS STATION' and a Chinese restaurant is called 'CHINESE RESTAURANT.'The film has an engrossing texture that is leagues away from your usual big budget science fiction movie.You can read many things into the film and it repays watching more than once.

The main actors are Jude Law who is OK and Jennifer Jason Leigh who is great. Some roles don't suit this very talented actor but when she has a good role like this she is unmatchable. Her unconventional beauty and fascinating voice suits the part of Allegra. (Looks great in a short black skirt too.) There are other familiar actors but they are not given much to do. It looks good, sounds good and a Howard Shore score complements the film very well. Cronenberg is possibly the Alfred Hitchcock of the sci-fi/horror genre. No matter what film he makes he is always worth watching.

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55 out of 99 people found the following review useful:
Where do we come from? From virtual reality, sure., 25 August 2004
Author: Daniel from Porto, Portugal

David Cronenberg is doubtlessly one of the greatest directors alive and in activity (along with Lynch, Kiarostami, Kitano, Moretti, Oliveira, Rohmer, etc). Having seen almost all of his films (excluding "Dead Zone", "The Fly" and "M.Butterfly"), I have this somewhat rare opinion that "eXistenZ" is one of his masterpieces. It seems to me that this film was hugely misunderstood, culminating with the stupid idea of comparing this film to "Matrix", a rather worthless and meaningless piece of nonsense. Here in "eXistenZ", we have instead a very dense and deep meditation on the mystery of reality, of our inability to apprehend where do things come from. The characters appear and disappear as if moved by some mysterious agent, which remains inhapreenshible. Being Cronenberg a professed atheist, we can only arrive at the conclusion that each world which is presented to us and to the main characters comes from their own mind, which, nevertheless, only constitutes a part of the human body (it is now hazard that the characters have access to the game by means of something - a game pod - which is implanted into their bodies). Cronenberg stated many years ago that all reality is virtual; so, in this film, the use of the plot-device of virtual reality is a huge metaphor to the virtually of reality, as our director sees it.

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Welcome To The Desert of the Real: Part 2, 8 May 2009
Author: tieman64 from United Kingdom

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

"All reality is virtual. It's collaborative. It's invented." – David Cronenberg.

In retrospect, "Existenz" is part of a group of films released between 1998 and 2001, all of which examine the fragile lines separating an illusory reality from a supposedly more authentic Real. These films, which include "The Matrix", "Vanilla Sky", "Eyes Wide Shut", "Dark City", "Existenz", "Mulholland Drive", "The Truman Show", "Fight Club" and "A History of Violence", all portray reality as a hyper-real simulation in possession of a dark and violent underside.

But what separates "Existenz" from its big budget counterparts are it's biomechanical themes. Marshall McLuhan famously asserted that all technological advancements are merely extensions of the human body; clothing an extension of our skin, binoculars of our eyes, cars of our legs, media of our minds and desires. McLuhan believed that as media builds upon itself, it grows further and further away from our human skin until the limits of our bodies becomes less and less definable.

This bodily alienation is highlighted in "Existenz". The film establishes a series of layered hyper-realities for the players of a virtual reality game to connect to. In order to enter each new layer of the game, the players must literally "plug in" using organic looking spinal grafts. These grafts let the players enter the computer generated landscape of the game whilst leaving their physical bodies behind. They are, essentially, wilfully disembodied from their physical reality.

The irony of the film is apparent at the end, when we discover that the film's "reality" only exists when the characters decide to enter another reality (at the moment of plugging in). Since the movie begins at the second plugging in, without referencing the first, Cronenberg suspends all reality to imply that no reality is grounded. In other words, the audience's act of playing the film was the first "plug in" to an alternate reality. In this way, Cronenberg engages the disembodiment that technology offers and threatens us with. The audience embodies media because media becomes an escape from the body through its prosthetic extensions. These plug in extensions are themselves sexualised, implying that man's virtual escapes are themselves pleasure centric activities, man hiding in fantasy by mind humping his machines. (Importantly, the film's "machines" become less organic and more mechanical and rigid as we get closer to reality.)

But though McLuhan suggests a "re-fragmentation" of the Self through extensions into media realities, other thinkers suggest less pessimistic models. For example, though our instruments have become detachable organs, they need not displace us entirely. Isn't it possible that our senses, no longer limited to our physical bodies, now become receptors to a wider variety of stimuli and perceptions? Cronenberg acknowledges this, but highlights the complications in returning to our real bodies. Recalibration to a pure reality is becoming increasingly impossible. One can imagine future generations thinking of their own brains as "organic computers" and not computers as "imitations of the brain". In other words, the machine becomes something that our body aspires to or increasingly enjoys being with.

On yet another level, "Existenz" portrays a war between a group of "game players" and rebels known as "The Realists". The Realists want all game designers and games destroyed. They want the simulation to end, and all of humanity to re-enter reality. The great joke (which only Cronenberg and Kubrick seem to acknowledge) is that these Realists who delight in such demystification are operating under the most lamentable and unsupportable of assumptions: the idea that you can strip away all fantasy. The "reality" they defend is, in fact, the ontology of a depressive, shabbily empirical, nothing ever adding up to more than the sum of its parts, nothing worth getting worked up about, nothing connecting with nothing, existence. IE- post modern hyper-real hell. They're defending simply another fantasy level in a game, unable to face the fact that The Real is itself a cosmic ateleological event, completely without design. The Real is purposiveness without purpose. Think the giant conversation at the end of "Eyes Wide Shut", Tom Cruise standing over a pool board as "everything is explained" but "nothing actually adds up".

Cronenberg is thus a kind of ontological existentialist, believing that the very nature of reality itself, the individual choices of subjects, is radically open. Watch how he has his lead character (played by Jude Law), confront the existential horror of abandonment and despair when he complains to the game designer (who is herself a mere player and not the actual game designer) that the game is without final purpose and that they are forever being assaulted by malevolent forces intent upon destroying them. It's a game that would be hard to market, he moans. And yet, as she smartly replies, it's a game that everyone is already playing.

The Realists, however, want to defend their comfortable self-delusions. They want to believe that the particular world in which they find themselves, a mere consensual hallucination, is fixed and determined. What guarantees such pre-determination is of course the functioning of a transcended game designer whose role is basically a metaphor for God.

Finally, "Existenz" makes a distinction between players who are capable of making choices and preprogrammed drones who are nevertheless also players. Unable to act unless triggered by specific lines of dialogue, these drones are reminiscent of so many interactions with "real" human beings in late Capitalism: robot announcers, telemarketers, call centre employees etc. These days, professionalization means becoming as much like a bureaucratically controlled drone as is humanly possible, man losing all signs of autonomy, unable to sensitively engage with situations or people around him.

8.9/10 – This film has aged well. Briskly told, "Existenz" has an elegance and sexiness which lifts it above its big budget, more action oriented, brothers.

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