Senseless - Movie Review

A friend recommended Senseless to me. Four things appealed to me about this film. First, it came highly recommended. Second, it is a foreign film. Third, it was described as suspense/thriller film. Finally, the synopsis appealed to me. Being a foreign film, I figured it would not be a knock-off or a gimmicky film. It had elements of both, but was good enough for a recommendation.

Eliott Gast (Jason Behr) is a businessman who seems to know how to close a deal. It is unclear what type of deals he has the skill to negotiate, but we eventually learn that he brokers loans for the US Government to countries where the United States wants to gain a foothold. Shortly after meeting Gast, we observe his abduction and awakening in a strange place. A small apartment with mostly white decor (along with a blue carpet in one room and some tan tile in the bathroom).

Eliott relives events from earlier in his life and we learn that he had some rough times, did some things he regretted and paid public penance for a bad deed. Eliott is basically a good guy. His abductors want to take the thing that makes Eliott who he is. In this case, it is his senses. Not his mental faculties, but literally his senses. His nemesis is a bearded terrorist (Joe Ferrara) who is assisted by an attractive nurse called Nim (Emma Catherwood).

Eliott spends over a month in captivity, suffering violent torture that is broadcast across the internet from a series of cameras in his personal jail. Viewers pay money to vote on whether Eliott should be released or punished further. It seems the morbid blood-thirsty viewers outnumber (or out pay) the sane viewers who seek Eliott's release. As the situation escalates, Eliott slowly becomes detached from who he is. He begs to be shot but only manages to continually suffer pain.

Senseless is a difficult film to watch. The violence is a bit graphic. The acts committed against Eliott during his captivity are nothing short of torture. The special effects do an amazing job of conveying the gut-wrenching procedures being applied to Eliott while the world watches. The violence is part of the story but would undoubtedly be disturbing to some viewers (not necessarily just younger audiences). The entire story orbits around the violence.

The dialogue in Senseless has some bright spots. It also seems a bit cliche at times. I thought that the use of flashbacks for Eliott was effective and helped provide some depth to his character, although there was one flashback I did not fully understand the connection to. The character interactions were a bit hard to accept on some counts. The story was decent with a mild twist at the end. Most of the seat gripping suspense was simply watching the torture build up to the inevitable scene that was about to unfold. The plot, in total, was average. If you like the Saw films, you will like this one. There were some common themes.

There were three primary actors in Senseless upon whom the film hinges. I enjoyed Behr's performance and found him to be fairly credible. His slow deterioration was performed superbly. I was less impressed with Catherwood and Ferrera. Ferrera's character was supposed to be a bit over the top, but his performance felt a bit overdone. Catherwood was okay...she sold a plot twist convincingly, but I only found her to be decent. The acting could have been better.

Senseless was adequately given an R rating by the MPAA. In a war film, violence more graphic than this film might be tolerable. This film depicts torture with a very personal touch. Viewers are intimately engaged in the torture and are almost as much at fault just for watching the film (ouch, a parallel that reaches outside the events on screen). The violence was the primary reason for the rating. There may have been a few language related issues, but they pale in comparison. I would be very cautious about the age group allowed to watch this film and would also recommend that squeamish viewers find something else. Run time is one hour, 27 minutes.

Senseless is a play on words. It is actually a pretty good one that works on several levels. It is about maintaining your mental faculties as well as the physical senses. It is also a statement about the violence...being senseless. The film had some interesting concepts at work, decent acting and visually disturbing cinematography. The story seemed to also borrow heavily from other films in the genre making it feel a bit contrived at times. As a whole, it was unique enough for a recommendation. 6/10.

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