Stuck somewhere between “Shutter Island” and “The Ring,” “A Cure for Wellness” is a meditative experience that leave one shivering with delight. Verbinski might be back to his horror roots his newest flick.
Gore Verbinski has had quite a career in Hollywood. Having nabbed two Oscars out of fourteen nominations, Verbinski is most certainly an established character in la la land. But with the charming “Pirates of the Caribbean” films and the laughably bad “Lone Ranger” under his belt, the blockbuster director has seen all sides of the critical and commercial spectrum. And save for his indie endeavor with “Weather Man” and the putrid “Lone Ranger”, Verbinski’s efforts are more often than not a box-office smash. And with that kind of résumé, who wouldn’t want “The Ring” director to return to his filmic language of suspense, terror and unease?
“A Cure For Wellness” tells the story of an up-and-coming Wall Street executive by the name of Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), eager to prove that he is the next Gordon Gecko. With a corner office and a disposition that would stop Cruella de Vil in her tracks, the pallid Lockhart is sent to a remote Swiss spa to retrieve his company’s CEO who has seemingly lost his mind. With his neck on the line and a merger due to occur in a few days, Lockhart is dead-set on bringing his boss back to New York. But what should have been an easy enough task never does becomes one. Soon enough the young executive begins to realize that something sinister is afoot and perhaps he is the only one capable of uncovering the cold truth behind the institute’s mission.
Marking his eleventh feature film, “A Cure for Wellness” follows many of the paradigms that past gothic thrillers like Robert Wise’s “The Haunting” and “The Others” established. From the overtly greenish-grey hues to the slow and deliberate pacing, the film’s gothic undertones shine through to make “A Cure for Wellness” a eerie, dark and entertaining feature. And while there is enough foreshadowing in the film to break the fourth wall and almost talk to the audience directly, this seldom hinders the film’s topsy turvy approach to unraveling the secrets behind the idyllic spa.
But what stands apart in this film perhaps more than any other Verbinski flick is the beautifully precise cinematography. Having worked with Verbinski before, cinematographer Bojan Bazelli takes the liberty to construct calculated shots, adding an excellent piece to his immense catalogue of films. From the mind-bending shots to the expertly framed images, Bazelli goes above and beyond to showcase the spine-chilling aura of the institute. The high caliber work from Verbinski and Bazelli all but tells us the plot twist that would grind this film to a screeching halt.
But what sets Verbinski’s newest film apart is its inherent need to hold the audience’s hand throughout the 146-minute length film. The intense invocation of melos from Benjamin Wallfisch ensures that we are cued to every suspenseful moment, every creepy interaction and every important plot device. Perhaps this is because of the rather protracted duration. Or perhaps it is because of Verbinski’s lowest-common-denominator blockbuster sensibilities. In any case, while it may seem overwrought and predictable at times, it never drags too far away from the fun of the film.
From the overt fascination with water to the disturbingly tactile torture sequences, Verbinski takes what he learned making “The Ring” and dials the meter all the way to eleven. The thematic obsession that the Academy Award-winning director seems to have with water makes yet another appearance–as it did in “The Ring,” “Weather Man” and “Rango”– going so far as to be the central plot point. And just like water’s high surface tension, Verbinski is able to slowly–albeit predictably–add drops of suspense and anxiety to the ever growing plot bubble only for it to inevitably crack under pressure.
This sense of semiotic fascination from Verbinski is simultaneously both captivating and gauche. From the hilariously hyperbolic way in which Lockhart drinks his glass of water to the excessive foreshadowing, Verbinski seems to be obsessed with exhibiting to his audience his idea of where this film is going to go. But regardless of his pedantic demonstrations of eeriness and foreboding ominousness, the director maintains an aura of fun and slow-paced spooky thrills, even if it does drag on for a bit too long.
In any case, “A Cure For Wellness” is a long-awaited return to horror for the bonafide director, one that does good work to entertain the audience. Furthermore, the film’s languid pacing coupled with overt plot developments ensures that one need not work too hard to uncover the mysteries behind the evil spa. It is a movie that you know isn’t going to be great, but will still give you some thrills, a couple of chills and most certainly a few hours of entertainment. And for Gore Verbinski, that is most certainly his strongest asset.
“A Cure for Wellness” opens in theaters on February 17.
