...merely a good ending in search of a proper build-up.
The Return (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:53
Fresh:8
Rotten:45
Average Rating:4/10
Consensus: Unoriginality may be an acceptable risk in the Horror genre, but boredom is never okay.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for violence, terror and disturbing images.
Runtime: 86 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Nov 10, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $7,712,009
Synopsis: In 2001 British director Asif Kapadia's debut feature, THE WARRIOR, a lyrical, beautiful movie set in the Himalayas, was named Best British Film at the BAFTA Awards. For his second film, Kapadia... In 2001 British director Asif Kapadia's debut feature, THE WARRIOR, a lyrical, beautiful movie set in the Himalayas, was named Best British Film at the BAFTA Awards. For his second film, Kapadia headed to Hollywood for the suspenseful horror flick THE RETURN, written by first-time screenwriter Adam Sussman. Sarah Michelle Gellar stars as Joanna Mills, an aggressive young woman who works as a successful saleswoman in the trucking industry. She pushes hard to go after a big deal in Texas, even though she had previously deemed the state off limits--something that happened to her when she was a little girl has kept her away from her hometown for many years. Filled with fear, trepidation, and determination, she goes back to Texas, even visiting her estranged father (Sam Shepard). As she sees familiar places, she has frightening flashes of deja vu, remembering bits and pieces of a tragic incident involving an ex-con (Peter O'Brien), an unseen man, and a bad traffic accident. The visions haunt her dreams, sending her back to her childhood (where she's played by Darrian McClanahan). Reunited with an old friend (Kate Beahan), Joanna tries to move forward, but her unfinished past keeps dragging her back. Kapadia keeps things at a slow, suspenseful pace, every scene adding another piece of the plot--as well as a touch more mystery. Gellar, who has also starred in such horror films as THE GRUDGE, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and SCREAM 2, plays Joanna with an involving sense of dread that is echoed by Dario Marianelli's score. [More]
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter O'Brien, Sam Shepard, Kate Beahan
Starring: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter O'Brien, Sam Shepard, Kate Beahan, Adam Scott, Darrian McClanahan, Erinn Allison, J.C. MacKenzie
Director: Asif Kapadia
Director: Asif Kapadia
Screenwriter: Adam Sussman
Producer: Aaron Ryder, Jeffrey Silver
Composer: Dario Marinelli
Studio: Rogue Pictures
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Reviews for The Return
[The Return is] more haunting than it has any right to be, thanks to its love of long, lonesome highways and the way the violence of the past bleeds into the present.
Mellow -- nay, snoozy -- atmospherics trump actual scares, and it makes almost zero sense.
As a superb example of a filmmaker more than making the most of his material, it's a fascinating experience, even though that material is wanting.
"The Return" is a slow-going ghost story that takes a long time to say "Boo!"
A film so formless and pointless that you may find yourself wondering who the target audience was supposed to be.
An entirely internalized portrait of a character without a clear interior.
Even with a brief 85-minute running time, The Return feels padded, which is odd considering how little we're told about the characters or the central mystery.
This murky psychological horror effort is not likely to inspire a return.
Driven by imagery rather than dialogue, rising tension rather than action, The Return depends on the actress’ ability to convey plot development through subtle changes in expression rather than the kick-boxing moves for which she’s become known.
Time-killer chiller reps an undistinguished U.S. debut for U.K. helmer Asif Kapadia, though the undernourished script may be most at fault.
As B-level suspensers go, though, The Return isn't actively awful -- just slow and cursed with a lead who acts with her T-shirt.
The Return universally fails to establish any sense of reality, which makes it hard to register when Joanna's world starts falling apart.
The horror movie workhorse Sarah Michelle Gellar is back to chill us with The Return, a rote thriller with an intriguingly frenetic shooting style.
The Return is routine in its depiction of a waifish young woman surrounded by men with predatory qualities. It's sad to see Buffy so disempowered.
Gellar, who isn't bad with comedy, can't do drama, even in the chocolate-colored hair she wears this time.
Since Adam Sussman's script is as lazy as Asif Kapadia's direction is disjointed, nothing ever makes sense, even after the anticlimatic explanation is revealed. Not even Gellar can work up any interest in Joanna's fate.
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