SPOILER ALERT
Rupture, by Steven Shainberg is a movie that was crafted with very specific visual and artistic concepts in mind. The film wants to be a creepy, sci-fi thriller with an artsy flair and a tight reveal. Unfortunately, it ends up being more of a mildly entertaining, lukewarm thriller due to some major flaws.
Rupture opens up with a hard tone of terror, established by about fifteen seconds of foreboding music. From there, we transition into an establishment of a weak and pointless back story for our main character, Renee, played by Noomi Rapace. I have to say that these first ten minutes is the weakest and most off-putting part of the film.The writing and performances are terrible and the blocking is stagnant and amateur. It gives the impression that getting the shot is more important than capturing a natural performance from the actors. There’s no balance in movement and dialogue, everything feels unnatural. The first act is so poorly executed, I wish they had just cut it out of the story completely. The audience could do without being force-fed information that only loosely ties into the big reveal at the end. But I get ahead of myself…
The plot hinges upon a secret society of folks who kidnap individuals with a dormant genetic code and attempt to activate the chromosomes. The gene allows people to communicate through skin contact and to morph their cranium out of shape. Otherwise, it seems to cause allergies to sunflower seeds, sterilization in females, and problems learning math. Lame. This code can only be “ruptured” (activated) when the person is injected with a mysterious red liquid and then subjected to experiences of extreme fear. So, folks who are captured by the society, are exposed to their greatest fears, in an attempt to “rupture” their secret gene. This is far from solid science and drives me crazy, because a quick search on genetic biology online would have given them a stronger base for the premise. And don’t get me wrong, I appreciate making allowances for a good horror story, but you have to have a good horror storyto do that. Most of the concepts in this film were borrowed and felt self-indulgent. Deconstructed to its strongest qualities, it’s pretty lighting with Rapace struggling to escape mad scientists in a hell-house of horrors. We’ve seen this plot before and implemented with far more talent.
I will give Rapace credit however, for a strong physical performance. Taut scenes of survival, with little dialogue, are her forte. These types of sequences make up the meat of the film, and saves it from being a total flop. She escapes her gurney and sneaks around the building, giving us a tour of other victims being tortured by exposure to their phobias. It was her talent alone that kept me watching through to the second-rate ending. I’m not letting her off the hook completely, however. Her line delivery is stony and she lacks chemistry with the other actors. This could be attributed to poor direction, and not a lack of talent. Its confounding, because Shainberg’s Secretary is a phenomenal performance-driven film and one of the reasons I chose to screen Rupture. Brian Nelson, the writer, also disappoints, despite his history of penning great scripts for films such as Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. Not sure what went wrong during the crafting of this project, but the components just didn’t come together well.
Let’s just call this what it is, a B-horror movie lucky enough to land an actress like Rapace. Her name will drive interest as well as the trailers, but I suspect most folks will be as disenchanted as I was. There is a market for this film: folks who like over-the-top, thrillers in the same vein as SAW sequels. Like I mentioned, it isn’t terrible, just not good. With all the fantastic television and cinema at your fingertips, Rupture is worth skipping.
Thanks for reading,
