SYNOPSIS:
THE
TATTOOIST is a supernatural thriller, made by Singaporean and
New Zealand co-production partners. The story centers on an
American tattoo artist, Jake Sawyer (Jason Behr) who impulsively
steals an ancient Samoan tattooing tool. Unexpectedly, He unleashes
a powerful angry spirit. Suddenly his art takes on a frightening
new dimension, exposing everyone he touches to mortal peril.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Mediacorp Raintree Pictures has had its fair share
of top and flop movies and this collaboration with the New
Zealand Film Commission unfortunately falls into the latter
category.
Jake,
an American and a tattooist by profession is in Singapore,
plying his trade at a tattoo convention. He claims to provide
people with healing tattoos and at the same convention, decides
to steal a Samoan tattooing tool. Upon having visions, he
decides to head to New Zealand to return the tool and in hopes
of finding a solution. In doing so, he falls for a Kiwi girl
and well, gets her and everyone else into trouble.
While
there is a certain air of mystery surrounding a flick about
tattoos, there is not much substance to this somewhat standard
fare. If you want to check out fancy tattoos and all, try
Miami Ink. This supernatural flick is nowhere near frightening,
failing to really attempt to scare anyone really. The gore
factor is not too much to handle, it only gets a little bit
messy, something like spilling squid ink all over the ship.
The
Tattooist is generally boring with very little happening all
around coupled with very bad acting. The leads, Jason Behr
and Mia Blake are nowhere near convincing as two people in
love. The cardboard acting is more or less the same all around
for the likes of Singapore’s very own Caroline Cheong,
who is nowhere near the bad girl she is supposed to be playing
in this. The older Kiwi actors, on the other hand, looked
like they tried to give their best to a very bland film.
If
there is a lesson that can be learnt from this flick though,
would be the practice of Tatau in Samoan families, a tradition
that is passed on from one generation to another. Did you
also know that the word tattoo is derived from that very Samoan
word, “Tatau”?
On
the overall, this could have been a much better movie had
much thought and care be put into it. It just ends up being
something you would pick off a DVD rental shelf for a cheap
weekend date.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There are none with the exception of a theatrical
trailer. Ho-hum.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Just like everything else about the DVD, nothing much to expect
here. Only includes Chinese and English subtitles.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Mohamad
Shaifulbahri
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