It’s “National Treasure” meets “The Descent,” and it’s just as bad as the image you have in your head of Nicholas Cage outsmarting vicious subterranean humanoids one American history factoid at a time. Okay, maybe not that bad.
From director John Erick Dowdle, “As Above, So Below” has a lot of potential to be a top-notch supernatural thriller, but the unique premise is squandered and misguided.
The movie begins with an intense introduction of the film’s heroine, Dr. Scarlet Marlowe (Perdita Weeks) – a one-dimensional combination of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft – uncovering an artifact in Iranian tunnels. Said artifact sets the plot in motion as Scarlet finds her way to Paris in search of the fabled philosopher’s stone.
As the plot unfolds, Scarlet and her team – which includes her old flame George (Ben Feldman) – discover the stone is buried in the catacombs beneath Paris, directly under the grave of fourteenth century alchemist Nicolas Flamel (Recognize the name, Harry Potter fans?). So, like any answer-seeking adventurer, Scarlet convinces everyone to pursue the stone into the unchartered depths of the catacombs.
Does this sound like a supernatural thriller yet? If you’re thinking no, then that’s because the first half essentially feels like a knock-off Dan Brown novel.
The horror doesn’t kick in full-force until well into the second half when they inadvertently stumble upon the gates of Hell after discovering what Scarlet thinks is the stone. Even then, the Hell they encounter isn’t even that hellish. Yes, demonic ghouls make brief appearances, but this Hell is more like “American Horror Story: Coven” where you simply experiencea painful or guilt-ridden encounter from your past.
Even worse, after building an admittedly impressive amount of suspense, the deaths are decidedly anticlimactic. The only creative death–and the only one directly connected to any character’s past–can be seen in the previews for the film. The other deaths mainly go like this: “Oh, no! Unimportant-secondary-character is dead! Let’s keep moving.”
Apparently, Hell isn’t as inventive as we’ve been led to believe.
To add to the confused mess that is the plot, the Hermetic concept of “As Above, So Below” is introduced with Scarlet’s tangled explanation inspiring laughs rather than understanding. The characters enter a dimension mirroring the real world, and I find myself wondering, where is this going?
This is precisely the problem with the film. There are a lot of ideas, even good ones, but there’s no direction and cohesion. At any given moment, the film straddles the lines between several different genres. It would have benefited from going in one direction rather than attempting to go in all of them.
I get it, though. American audiences have become disconnected from just going to the movies. We’re choosier than ever, and for us to leave the comfort of our couches and Netflix accounts, we’ve got to have a valid reason. In this case, the film tried too hard to authenticate itself and to prove to its audience that it deserved to be made.
The world-building skills touted in the film were a pleasant surprise for the genre. For once, I wasn’t berated with sudden blasts of information that validated someone being killed. The film knew its stuff and had fun sharing it.
While the ambition of the filmmakers can be lauded, ultimately, the film failed because it reached too far and never gave the audience anything substantial to hold on to. Yes, the ride was fun at times. I found myself cringing with anticipation at the screen and eager to see where the plot would go next.
But the plot never went anywhere.
It took me into the catacombs, and I’m still wandering around, trying to find a sewing kit to tie up all the loose ends.
I guess I should be gentler given the genre, but the beginning started out too strong to fizzle out like it did in the end. Either way, if you get a craving for a supernatural adventure thriller, I guess this’ll do.
Rating: C+
-Colton Herrington
