There are only two possible reactions to watching “White Noise” — a frantic rush home to turn on your television and watch static for hours on end, or promise yourself you will never let your television or radio go out of tune again.
“White Noise,” a new mystery/thriller from Universal Pictures and Gold Circle Films is a movie that will leave audiences pondering many questions – mostly whether they liked it or not.
The movie explores research on electronic voice phenomenon, which according to the “White Noise’s” Web site is “the process by which the dead, through sound and image, communicate with the living through the static and white noise of modern electronic devices.”
After the disappearance and subsequent death of his wife, Jonathan Rivers played by Michael Keaton, becomes obsessed with learning if his wife is contacting him through static noise. After an encounter with Raymond Price, a electronic voice phenomenon researcher played by Ian McNeice, Rivers discovers the truth.
Unlike the preview, which over exaggerates the movie’s suspenseful moments, “White Noise” plays to the sci-fi enthusiasts and not the horror crowd.
There will be no Oscar’s accompanying this movie, the acting and visual effects are sufficient, but an ability to sit back and not question parts of the movie is needed.
Michael Keaton’s aging persona is offset by actress Chandra West who looks far to young to play Keaton’s wife.
However, there are parts of the movie that are worth mentioning, two scenes in particular.
When Rivers and Price first meet, there is a scene where the camera spins around both characters, creating a sense of intensity in an otherwise average scene.
Later, when Rivers is at Price’s home, there is a scene where Rivers is listening to “white noise” when what can best be described as evil spirits begin to come through the static. Here the camera quickly jumps from speaker to speaker and to the computer screen while the howls from the “other side” blare through the theater scaring the audience.
Unfortunately, while the “cool” factor is certainly evident in this movie, the plot is lacking. At one point Rivers is trying to find his wife for comfort, and she is trying to get him to save people, but it’s never clear why she does this, other than for the sake of saving a few lives.
Also, because of his electronic voice phenomenon research, Rivers is very close to two deaths and an attempted suicide, but he is never seriously questioned by the police. In the real world, he would have been in jail after Price died.
The bottom line for this movie is this: If you go to it expecting to be scared, you will be disappointed. If you are interested in the supernatural and the afterlife, or just enjoy a thriller, then you will like this movie.
The ending, however, will likely disappoint many viewers.
