NO SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHINIn order to provide a reasonably objective film score, I've broken down each element so the reader can see my thought process and assess whether a movie is worth their time. A lot of reviews seem to operate on emotional reaction rather than strict analysis and this is my attempt to provide a decent alternative to the consumer. The final scores will be shown at the end of the review.
Film: Koma (Jiu Ming)
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese
Format Reviewed: DVD
Rating: R
Story Basics: "A woman becomes caught in the web of a gang of thieves who literally steal the lives from their victims in this thriller." - Mark Deming, Rovi
Score is between 1 and 10.
A score of 1 is fatally flawed.
5 is a creatively unoffensive yet mediocre.
10 is perfection
Family Tree:One of the two directors of Koma, Chi-Leung Law, directed The Bullet Vanishes.
One of the lead actresses, Angelica Lee, was also the lead in The Eye (not the Jessica Alba remake) and Re-Cycle.
Story Grades
Coherency: 2
Koma has some pretty big plot holes and, although the characters are well developed, they often act completely outside of their established personality without any eventual explanation or context.
Emotional Depth: 8
While it may not resonate with all audiences, Koma has a lot of moments that strike genuine emotional chords. Some of the scares that build up over the course of the film rely heavily on the sum of these moments and provide a firm foundation for the audience to cling to when the plot flies off the rails from time to time.
Originality: 7
The core idea here is based off of regional folklore, yet places it in a modern setting and uses the whole "fireside horror story" as a starting point to build the narrative off into new directions. It may have some moments that insult the viewer's intelligence but there are many twists and turns that feel entirely new to the genre.
Visual Grades
Visual Effects: 3
Special Effects: 4
There are very few portions with CG (Visual Effects) or Physical Effects (Special Effects) in Koma, but when they do appear they are pretty poorly executed. They aren't bad enough to provide laughs but they'll take the viewer out of the experience for a second.
Cinematography: 6
The camerawork is pretty par for the course with a few notable exceptions. The majority of the film has pretty standard framing, only occasionally does the overall image look like capital 'A' Art.
Sound Score
Music: 3
General Sound: 3
The music and sound effects are often ham-handed and over the top, which is a shame as there are some great moments that are lessened by an overzealous "feel-scared-now-please" shriek of instruments.
The Only Things Most Reviewers Focus On (passive-aggressive swipe?)
Acting: 7
With a few exceptions (the protagonist's brother, for example, is painful to watch. Fortunately he has a very small role), the acting of the leads here is nearly award-worthy. The characters go through a broad variety of emotions and the actors all do quite well with the screen time they are given, it makes for an engrossing watch.
Pacing/Editing: 3
Some of the moments that defy logic could have been fixed with a tighter edit, it gives the feeling of a director who just didn't want to let the editor cut out as much as they could have. As a result the film has a very choppy pace, this is a story that could have slowly built on paranoia to crescendo in utter horror but instead opts to sputter between fast-paced events languid characterization that often repeats itself.
Subjective Modifiers
Passes Bechdel Test: + 0.5
Moderate Gore: +/- 0.5
Decent Scares/Tension: +/- 0.5
Minor Exploitation: - 0.5
Final Grade: 4.6 out of 10
Take all the scores except the Subjective Modifiers and average them, we have our final score.
The result is a pretty mediocre movie that isn't blatantly bad but certainly won't rock your world.
Subjective Grade: 6.1 out of 10
This is where the Subjective Modifiers factor into it. Take the average score before modifiers and then add or subtract them exactly as they are, anything that is +/- is a positive as I am personally a fan of scares and a bit of the ultra-violence (hence subjective). The result is a movie that is better than mediocre and has tiny flickers of brilliance but doesn't really hold up in the long run.
Squeamish Grade: 3.6 out of 10
Same process as the Subjective Grade but all the +/- modifiers are negatives. This score is aimed at those who are turned off by violence and high tension situations. It reflects the positive aspects of the film, but maintains that the viewer will probably not enjoy the experience.
Second Opinions
IMDB: 6.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Metacritic: N/A
Hope this helps you decide whether you want to give Koma a shot or not!
Thanks for reading,
Josh Evans
