A supernatural thriller in which American tattoo artist Jake Sawyer (Jason Behr) is a global wanderer who explores ethnic themes in his designs. He discovers the ancient tradition of Samoan tatau and is taken on a devastating journey into Pacific mysticism.
by tina_teh
on 25/02/2009 4 of 7 people found this review helpful
What I loved most: Cultural exchange
What I really hated: Editing could be better
OK, so I learnt something about origins of tataus and something on Samoan culture but it was still pretty shallow. The pace was dreadfully draggy especially in the beginning and accelerates only in the last quarter of the movie. The plot development and characters were too simplistic. The suggestions of spiritual workings were unsatisfactorily explained. The movie's just blatantly a tourism promo for the collaborative countries.
It seems like Jason Behr is incapable of appearing in a good movie. Malaysians who saw him last in B-grade vampire flick "Skinwalkers" would know what this reviewer means. It's also a good thing that distributors put the plug on "D-War" before the universally rubbished fantasy effort made its way to our screens. His two-tone face of stone has been stretched enough to feign the talent that he hasn't got; and it is looking as bad as ever.
Now he's back at it with "The Tattooist", an NZ production that follows closely the texture last shown to us in another movie from that land, "The Ferryman". While the two are similar even in content, the satisfaction value from Behr's movie is rather low. Local lad Peter Burger shot the movie with only a few TV dramas to his directorial credit, while the boys who brought us "Black Sheep" last year wrote the story. Can there be any more mediocre nouns in one paragraph?
It's also quite disappointing that a movie with such a specific subject matter can fail to impress a tattoo enthusiast such as this reviewer. One would think that fanboy enthusiasm would at least put some punch into this story about an American guy who visits a tattoo expo in Singapore and steals a Samoan tattooing tool before ridiculously flying across the globe to learn more about the craft.
Okay, that was a lie. It's got something to do with the sumptuous caramel skin of Mia Blake's character, someone related to a gang of Samoans who hates any Palagi (white man?) who wants to "get down with the brown". Complete with possession, spirits, sex and Samoan rituals, the movie looks like a special interest winner on paper.
It is on screen that it all goes pear-shaped. The audience cannot help but feel shortchanged when a horror movie is as half-hearted as "The Tattooist". The gore is substandard, the spooks are recycled and the sex isn't even there. As far as special effects are concerned, there is nothing original about the movie. If anything, the inked demon in "The Tattooist" looks inferior to last year's oiled demon in "Orang Minyak"!
"The Tattooist" has one advantage and one advantage only – it gives an insight into the little-filmed New Zealand subculture. There seems to be a genuine attempt to get the details culturally correct and that adds a nice authentic feel to the movie. However, if you're into hard-hitting stuff, you wouldn't feel left out if you gave this a miss.
