Four friends take a detour on their vacation in Mexico after they meet a friendly German tourist. He plans to head to a desolate Mayan temple ruin in the jungle to search for his missing brother and his archaeologist friend. Having nothing better to, the friends accompany him..and unwittingly set foot into a struggle for survival. After entering the ruins, the local Mayans forbid them to leave lest they unleash the bloodhtirsty botanical nightmare contained within the confines of the ruins.
It's always difficult and rather frusturating to review a film that is based on a novel, especially one that you have already read. On the one hand, you want to view the film, simply as a film, and critique the standard components of filmmaking. On the other hand, you can't help but compare the film to the book and debate on which one is more effective. Therin lies my issue with The Ruins. As a stand alone film, it's quite decent. Rough around the edges yes, but not half bad. As a companion to a great novel, it is nothing but a surefire disappointment.
First off what makes The Ruins work. This is Carter Smith's firts full length theatrical film and a wider scale debut, it's actually quite well done. Mr. Smith crafts great shots and slick looking camera movements to keep the film from looking dull. A great shot of a hat flying out of a truck and laying in the dusty road for several seconds on end illustrates the isolation of the temple. Likewise, Smith smartly contrasts issues like unfaithfulness with a much more horrific situation (an argument about "sticking your tongue down his throat" becomes something far more disturbing in the background). He also sets up the revelation of the evil in The Ruins quite well, revealing bits and pieces of what exactly is going on, before letting it all loose. And the movie looks quite decent. It has a very uncomfortable feel to it as dirt, grime and dust cover every surface. The tropical jungles don't reverberate the usual lush quality that they do and the whole thing is actually rather unpleasent to look at, but in a good way.
For those who hav not read the book, The Ruins will also come across as a rather disturbing film, a situational horror drama that deals with the degredation of the human psyche. The visuals are disturbing, thought not all that gory.The concept is unsettling and the downfall of Laura Ramsey's character is well done. Scott Smith adapted his own novel and as such creates a new standard of highs and lows for a script. What works is what is new, what doesn't work is what is changed. Smith adds a few new scenes and slight alterations of existing sequences. What is new is very well done and makes for nice additions. What doesn;t work are the alterations including
SPOILER BELOW (highlight text to read)The deaths of some of the characers which are altered from the book...and the ending. Smith chickened out, plain and simple. Whereas say, The Mist had an optimistic literary ending and a depressing film ending, The Ruins takes the direct opposite route with an incredibly anticlimatic and annoyingly "standard" ending.The films pacing is off...it seems to take forever to get going and whatever does occur never seems to really pay off. The climax is incredibly rushed, making it seem like all the action in the film takes place in the final 15 minutes. Scott Smith leaves out several important plot points and the evil of The Ruins seems to be a complete afterthought. Something about it just doesn;t click right. The acting is far from great as well. Jonathan Tucker (Texas Chainsaw Remake), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from the Xmen films), Jena Malone and Laura Ramsey are all decent actors but only Ramsey really stands out. Tucker, especially, truly falters and emerges with a stoic and very wooden performance.
I should reiterate that if you don;t know what to expect, then this film is decent. Give it a slightly higher rating. The images can be disturbing and the content unsettling. But for those who have read the novel, we mainly view the film as an interpretation of those events and are intetrested to see how they play out on film. Long story short, if you've read the book, then this film will ultimately disappoint as it doesn't translate well.
In the end The Ruins is an extremely difficult film to rate, at least for me it is. It's not a bad film per se. It can be smart at times, disturbing at others and compelx when it wants to be. So its a fine film on its own right. But in comparison to the novel, this one falters...even if you havn't read the book you'll still be thrown off by the awkward pace, weak ending and lack of information. It's a good film for DVD viewing but not a rush-out-and-see type film.
Also...most random credit ever:
Producer: Ben Stiller??!!
Bizzare.
"We're out of marshmallows!! Nooooo!"
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