If you want to watch a movie where every single scene is an argument, and I mean this literally, there is barely one scene in the movie where the lead role isn't arguing, yelling, or being yelled at by everyone he interacts with, then watch Element. Personally I watch movies to relax, but this one had me yelling too, at the actors, at the script writer, at the director, everything. I managed to make it to the end, which surprised me, I had really hoped for the plot to change, or the actors to start acting instead of yapping fast lines. If I have to say something positive, it's that the movie has a start, a middle and an ending, though not a very good ending. Summary: bad acting, bad script and a lot of yelling.
4 Reviews
Mostly confusing but the concept was great
bellino-angelo201420 April 2024
I knew about ELEMENT only because it's one of the many movies Michael Ironside has made to date and with its score of 3,3 but only 190 ratings it will never make the Bottom 100 but since I hope one day to finish all of Ironside's movies I saw it anyway and when I saw it I had to agree with the two reviewers that gave it 2s (the other review has a 10 so it shouldn't be trusted).
North Maxfield is a financial advisor that is recently widowed and would love to have one last meeting with his dead wife for reshaping his past so he goes to Doctor Sarah Carson who is specialized in hypnosis and would make Maxfield go in contact with the soul of his dead wife. At the same time his boss Joe (Ironside) suspects something about North and he'll try his best to avoid that North is killed (eventually sacrificing himself towards the end).
The main problem with the movie is the pace. At the beginning it was slow and as it progressed it went kinda better but it was still boring and confusing. There were some moments tho especially the ones provided by Ironside and the ones where North is in connection with the spirit of his dead wife. But for the rest, it was so dull and confusing that it looked like the director knew it was a bad movie and let it go with its badness.
Overall, one of those movies that will make you soon go to bed when it's over for how much is boring. Trust me, it happened to me when I saw it last August so this says a lot!
North Maxfield is a financial advisor that is recently widowed and would love to have one last meeting with his dead wife for reshaping his past so he goes to Doctor Sarah Carson who is specialized in hypnosis and would make Maxfield go in contact with the soul of his dead wife. At the same time his boss Joe (Ironside) suspects something about North and he'll try his best to avoid that North is killed (eventually sacrificing himself towards the end).
The main problem with the movie is the pace. At the beginning it was slow and as it progressed it went kinda better but it was still boring and confusing. There were some moments tho especially the ones provided by Ironside and the ones where North is in connection with the spirit of his dead wife. But for the rest, it was so dull and confusing that it looked like the director knew it was a bad movie and let it go with its badness.
Overall, one of those movies that will make you soon go to bed when it's over for how much is boring. Trust me, it happened to me when I saw it last August so this says a lot!
Writing and acting was bad and they should feel bad
vhuynh-563569 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I honestly thought the general plot of this movie wasn't too bad but it suffered from cringey dialogue and bad acting. My god the acting was really bad. I'm not one to notice mediocre acting whenever someone says the acting was bad in a particular movie but it was glaringly obvious to me in this one. Everything that comes out of the main character's mouth is completely wooden and ends on the same note, like he's reading a really boring script and questioning what he's doing in life. I can't even bring myself to believe that he's actually sad or distraught, which is how he's supposed to be for the majority of this movie...The actor also suffers from an inability to make any facial expression. Seriously, his mouth stays the exact same no matter what his emotion's supposed to be. The thing is, I think his mouth naturally curves upward just very slightly so when his face is resting during sad moments, I often thought he was amused. Oh and the acting from the actress who plays the wife in his hypnosis moments are really bad too. I often find myself feeling relieved when the really small side characters speak up because I could finally immerse myself in the movie if only for a slight moment.
Also the writing is a bit confusing and the exposition is non existence. The movie starts with the both of them getting shot by a random person on the street and pretty much transitions to him standing stiffly at the therapist's office wanting to do hypnotherapy and then the therapist tells him to look at her hand and puts him in a trance. They never really talk about the relationship between him and his wife before she died or lay any ground work for why he's so driven to solve the supposed mystery of her death. The whole premise of the movie is a sad widower trying to solve the murder of his wife! You want the audience to sympathize with him and feel a sense of urgency and confusion but there were none throughout the movie.
An awkward scene: he's hypnotized and sees a woman standing before a door. She says "element" and he asks her to let him see his wife. She says "element" again. Then he stops asking and says "revenge" and she lets him through. I think those words were supposed to be meaningful and symbolic but I thought that exchange was cringeworthy.
Another slightly awkward scene: when he was in deep trance for 70 minutes and wakes up and says "that was intense when can I come back?" then the therapist says "let me get my appointment calendar" and the scene ends. I guess he went over his allotted time so she could only discuss with him what these things mean in his next session?
Anyways I would only recommend watching this if you want to amuse yourself with really bad acting. Even Sharknado had better acting than this.
Also the writing is a bit confusing and the exposition is non existence. The movie starts with the both of them getting shot by a random person on the street and pretty much transitions to him standing stiffly at the therapist's office wanting to do hypnotherapy and then the therapist tells him to look at her hand and puts him in a trance. They never really talk about the relationship between him and his wife before she died or lay any ground work for why he's so driven to solve the supposed mystery of her death. The whole premise of the movie is a sad widower trying to solve the murder of his wife! You want the audience to sympathize with him and feel a sense of urgency and confusion but there were none throughout the movie.
An awkward scene: he's hypnotized and sees a woman standing before a door. She says "element" and he asks her to let him see his wife. She says "element" again. Then he stops asking and says "revenge" and she lets him through. I think those words were supposed to be meaningful and symbolic but I thought that exchange was cringeworthy.
Another slightly awkward scene: when he was in deep trance for 70 minutes and wakes up and says "that was intense when can I come back?" then the therapist says "let me get my appointment calendar" and the scene ends. I guess he went over his allotted time so she could only discuss with him what these things mean in his next session?
Anyways I would only recommend watching this if you want to amuse yourself with really bad acting. Even Sharknado had better acting than this.
indie
mollie-1118 December 2016
Really enjoyed the film. Love seeing and being apart of indie film. The film delves into the idea of hypnosis and literally loosing oneself in this alternative reality. There is significant research surrounding this and it is interesting to see how it might be realized. I enjoy the twist of our hero's journey as well. Technically the difference between reality and dream state was significant. The dream world had stability and peace, while "reality" was jarred and disjointed. Michael Ironside is a legend and it was wonderful to see him in the role of Joe. He killed it. I know the film was shot in Oklahoma City. And I was impressed with the variety of locations and the fact that Oklahoma City had so much diversity.
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