the first three quarters of gothika were excellent. they were intriguing, frightening, and thought-provoking. the last quarter, though, completely blew donkey balls.

what i thought was actually great about the first three quarters of the movie were their similarities to the ring: the mysterious girl with the ratty white dress and the hair all over her face, the constant rain storms, the out-of-nowhere scary scenes, the unfolding story behind the creepy occurences… gothika achieved this perfectly and it wasn’t until the puzzle began to finally demystify when the movie took a turn for the worst.

the relationship between robert downey, jr. and halle berry’s characters seemed unnecessary to the plot, the casting of her husband and his friend, the sheriff, seemed poor choices as their stories developed, and the finale was pretty much the stuff of action movies. the movie took what could have been an interesting storyline and ended it with an almost farcical conclusion.

on a more positive note, robert downey, jr. is looking much better after his battle in rehab.