Thr3e (2006)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Captivating movie !

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Knowing this was a movie based on a novel by a Christian I unfortunately expected low budget, B Movie quality (e.g. Left Behind, Fire Proof, etc.)however, I was pleasantly surprised. Though it wasn't stellar, the movie had what I would say is "normal" movie quality (with the small exception of some special effects like explosions...they looked like cheap CGI). I haven't read the book yet, but the plot seemed to keep me somewhat on the edge of my seat although it felt like something I've seen before. I agree with another writer's disdain for Christian writers trying to compete in a suspense genre and being sort of "hand cuffed" by trying to be family friendly. I'm a Christian and I say, Christian writers need to just go for it, so be it if you get an R rating. Within the the reality of spiritual warfare, Christians have the freakiest stories of all to tell and they're true! Yet they are so afraid of someone hearing a naughty word that the power of truly scary stories is watered down to almost boredom. That reminds me too, this was in the horror section and is not horror at all. It's a drama...suspense maybe, but not horror.

I'm probably being generous. I found the movie entirely watchable, and it held my attention reasonably well. I just found myself cringing slightly at the strange choices made, the strangely unrealistic plot, and so forth. The story is similar to most "police hunt a killer with a bizarre twist" movies. Most of the tension is built out of concealing the identity of the killer, and trying to raise the tension so that we want to keep watching until the reveal. To be honest, the movie did have me fooled; I thought the movie was going in one direction, then they pulled out a dumb twist that I thought they'd be too smart to use. Then they misdirect us a little to imply that the twist they had revealed was not actually true. If the movie had followed in that vein, I would be much, much happier with the movie. Instead, they double down on the initial twist, creating a massively silly twist that almost comes across as a parody of twists.After looking up this movie, I was amazed to see that it was Fox Faith. There was a pile of vaguely religious pseudo-talk, but it hardly entered into being a cornerstone of movie. In retrospect, the violence was restrained, although it seemed to make them rely on bombs a lot. And reel-to-reel tape recorders.I can't suggest it for anyone other than horror aficionados that enjoy seeing casually poor horror.

Thr3e starts as police psychologist Jennifer Peters (Justine Waddell) desperately tries but fails to save the life of her brother from being blown up by the 'Riddle Killer' who has been murdering people & using strange puzzles to confuse the police. Three months later & theology student Kevin Parson (Marc Blucas) gets a call from the Riddle Killer & so begins another twisted game full of bizarre puzzles & innocent lives on the line as Kevin is forced to face his childhood demons & solve the Riddle Killer's puzzles in order to save those innocent lives, his friends & even his own life, cop Peters learns that Kevin is the Riddle Killer's new target & sets out to nail the psycho once & for all but nothing is quite as it seems as the truth is even more shocking than anyone could have expected...This Polish American co-production was directed by Robby Henson & was based on the novel by Ted Dekker, I have to say that while I didn't think Thr3e was particularly brilliant & it has it's flaws I didn't think it was a complete waste of time either & did actually quite like it to a certain extent. The first thing to note is how much of a rip-off the title Thr3e is of the excellent serial killer thriller Se7en (1995) & the two feel fairly similar although you can chuck a little bit of Saw (2004), Fight Club (1999) & Hide and Seek (2005) as it borrows their plot twist's, style & overall feel. It's also interesting to note that Thr3e was the first release from Fox Faith, a devision of 20th Century-Fox devoted to 'Christian friendly' films & as such has no real torture, gore, profanity or violence & tries to center it's plot around the basic notion of the good & evil within all of us & our personal battle between that good & evil. The script uses the medical condition dissociative disorder as an explanation for the various twist endings & the eventual final twist at the end, I must say that while I liked the idea behind the twist there are a few plot holes like the way Sam & Jennifer talk on the phone & have direct contact with each other even though Kevin is not there, it's also very hard to understand how Kevin could lock himself in a room & be 'in' two places at once as it were. The crazy family who turned a slightly crazy kid into a full-blown loon is a bit of a stretch. In short Thr3e has some interesting ideas, it moves along at a decent pace, there story is reasonably gripping & with a better script & stronger direction the multiple twist ending could have been a real killer but the lack of any violence, death or exploitation elements makes it a bit dull to watch & the ambitious twist just leaves too many plot holes & somewhat destroys the credibility of everything that has happened before.As already mentioned there really isn't any violence here, a dog gets blown up & a guy is killed at the start off-screen & that's it. The film looks pretty good with decent cinematography that is a little gray looking but is alright. There are a few explosions which look OK but don't really excite that much. Some of the puzzles set by the Riddle Killer are obscure to say the least & how they figured out the second puzzle was a bus I'll never know.With a supposed budget of about $2,400,000 this looks alright & has decent enough production values & a couple of things get blown up although special effects are few & far between. Although set in America this was actually filmed in Lodz in Poland. The acting is average, no-one really stands out while Bill Moseley has a small cameo.Thr3e is a film at odds with itself, there's the potential for a clever little serial killer thriller but a silly twist ending that leaves lots of plot holes & a complete total lack of exploitation or horror elements ultimately works against it. In the right hands this could have been great, as it is it's a mildly interesting curiosity at best.

I am a pastor and when I heard Fox was doing Fox Faith to make Christian movies I must say I was excited. When a friend recommended this movie and I saw who wrote the book I was even more excited. However I gave the movie a 7 because it really wasn't a Christian movie. Aside from a few vague references to the Bible and to the power of God it really played out more like a psychological type thriller. It wasn't a bad movie and I hope Fox Faith does indeed make some films that are truly Christian but I don't think this one really counts. I am not saying it's a bad movie and I am not saying anything against the writer of the book or the film in general. I would say it keeps you guessing a bit and the end surprised me which doesn't happen with a lot of movies. So I would suggest it just for an older audience but don't expect it to be a Christian movie.