Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Michael Keaton | ... | Jonathan Rivers | |
Chandra West | ... | Anna Rivers | |
Deborah Kara Unger | ... | Sarah Tate | |
Ian McNeice | ... | Raymond Price | |
Sarah Strange | ... | Jane | |
Nicholas Elia | ... | Mike Rivers | |
Mike Dopud | ... | Detective Smits | |
Marsha Regis | ... | Police Woman | |
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Brad Sihvon | ... | Minister |
Mitchell Kosterman | ... | Work Man | |
L. Harvey Gold | ... | Business Man | |
Amber Rothwell | ... | Susie Tomlinson | |
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Suzanne Ristic | ... | Mary Freeman |
Keegan Connor Tracy | ... | Mirabelle | |
Miranda Frigon | ... | Car Crash Woman |
The car of successful author Anna Rivers is found disabled next to the river, the thought being that she accidentally fell into the river while trying to change a flat tire. Her dead body is found upstream several weeks later, consistent with the accidental death theory. Based on incidents around him, her grieving husband, architect Jonathan Rivers, decides several months later to visit with Raymond Price, who approached John prior to Anna's body being found with news that she was trying to contact him from beyond. At that time, John was skeptical of Raymond's claims of electronic voice phenomena (EVP): that he is contacted from the beyond through electronic means - radio, television - which he is able to record. Along with Sarah Tate, another of Raymond's "clients" whose fiancé passed away, John becomes obsessed with EVP as he gets more and more audio and video messages, however fuzzy, from Anna from beyond. That obsession takes a slight change in focus when John believes that Anna ... Written by Huggo
Michael Keaton gives a good performance as architect Jonathan Rivers. I found the movie good and thrilling at times but it somehow lost its phase in the end. But then again that's also the case with many films like Timecop and Hard Cash.
Storywise the movie was quite good. The idea of a device which can record our personalities after death is quite interesting. A quote by Thomas Edison made in 1928, which is used in the beginning of the movie, states: "Nobody knows whether our personalities pass on to another existence or sphere, but if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be manipulated by our personality as it survives in the next life such an instrument ought to record something." The concept of E.V.P.; (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) is elaborated on through the entire movie and it leaves us still thinking.
The directing and the way it's written holds up pretty good up until about 2/3 in the movie. The characters and Michael's acting as a father is quite good and not flawed in any way. The story flows in a good and convincing way. But it's in the end where it starts to get a little hectic. There's a twist to the story which sorta destroys the original set up and it becomes a tad....well dull and inconsistent to be perfectly blunt.
But all in all this is an enjoyable film. Just don't expect to be blown away.