*******spoilers, lots of 'em************ I always want to root for indie films, but this is just bad, I mean insultingly bad. Not the kind of bad that's so bad it's good, but the kind of bad that makes you wonder how the crew, especially the writers and director, are still working. The script is horrible. The story doesn't make sense, probably because it was likely never revised or shown to anyone who understands how to write for the screen.
The premise is interesting. The story, however, is all over the place and badly imbalanced, especially the whole subplot with Alexander Tatum. Tatum is a mopey guy with daddy issues who is not at all scary. He dresses like an extra in The Crow, and spends most of the movie lurking and feeling sorry for himself. He then disappears for half the film, and at the end, we're told (literally, by several characters) that Tatum is Scary Guy Numero Uno. No mention by anyone about the psycho doctor who runs the organ-harvesting operation, just Tatum. Nevermind that Tatum has been mostly absent for much of the middle of the film, and that the doctor takes center stage for a long time. The way the other characters talk about Tatum, it's clear we're supposed to think he's the stuff of legends. It would be easier to believe he's the stuff of legends if the story actually centered around him or didn't abandon him completely for half the film. But just having other characters tell us he is? And mostly within the last five minutes, as if this is an afterthought? Not convincing.
The acting is okay during the few moments when it's actually being consistent, but most of the time, it's atrocious. And it's not just confined to one character-- it's like the actors were left to their own devices with no direction, and none of them had any idea what the tone of the movie was. But it's hard to blame the actors entirely when it's the director's job to well, direct them. Though there are a few performances that stand out as really really painful to watch, I won't name names. If you sit through this movie, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about. Ultimately, it's the director who failed to at least let the actors know what her vision for the film was. But with a script so muddled, she probably didn't know either.
And back to the writing again... A major fail in the script is the constant exposition. When the characters constantly have to explain major plot points to each other but the audience doesn't see it for themselves, a screenplay generally stinks. This is telling us what you should be showing us on screen, and that's basic filmmaking 101. Anyway, this script needed a major overhaul before it ever was allowed to go in front of the camera. Sutures starts out like a thriller, but quickly descends into a bad combination of a daytime soap and a badly-done and obvious ripoff of Hostel. The twists at the end, and the end itself, are all so tacked-on and badly thought out, they defy explanation. Just because a film is destined from the beginning to go straight to DVD, does it *have* to be bad? As I'm writing this, I wonder why I sat through the whole thing, but I guess it was just one of those movies where by the time you accept how rotten it is, you have already watched enough that you want there to be some kind of a payoff. That payoff never comes in this film, and I should have known better and turned it off before wasting all that time I'll never get back. I give it three stars and I'm being generous. The locations were pretty good and there are a scant few actors who actually gave it their best. But overall? Eeeegh...
عرض المزيد 
