Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10161 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-03-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Director David Cronenberg's eXistenZ is a stew of corporate espionage, virtual reality gaming, and thriller elements, marinated in Cronenberg's favourite Crock-Pot juices of technology, physiology and sexual metaphor. Jennifer Jason Leigh is game designer Allegra Geller, responsible for the new state-of-the-art eXistenZ game system; along with PR newbie Ted Pikul (Jude Law), they take the beta version of the game for a test drive and are immersed in a dangerous alternate reality. The game isn't quite like PlayStation, though; it's a latexy pod made from the guts of mutant amphibians and plugs via an umbilical cord directly into the user's spinal column (through a BioPort). It powers up through the player's own nervous system and taps into the subconscious; with several players it networks their brains together.

Geller and Pikul's adventures in the game reality uncover more espionage and an antigaming, proreality insurrection. The game world makes it increasingly difficult to discern between reality and the game, either through the game's perspective or the human's. More accessible than Crash, eXistenZ is a complicated sci-fi opus, often confusing, and with an ending that leaves itself wide open for a sequel. Fans of Cronenberg's work will recognize his recurring themes and will eat this up. Others will find its shallow characterisations and near-incomprehensible plot twists a little tedious. --Jerry Renshaw, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Documentary
Theatrical Trailer
Directors Audio Commentary
Visual and Special Effects Supervisors Commentary
Exclusive Console
Interactive Menu Including Internet Hyperlink
None

Synopsis
A renowned international virtual reality game designer (Leigh), creator of a new interactive game called eXistenZ, becomes the target of an assassination plot by a group of religious fanatics. She is forced to go into hiding with a novice security guard (Law) sworn to protect her. However, during the chase the two of them experience a world where the boundaries of fantasy and reality are blurred and nothing is as it seems. A psychosexual mindbender from director Cronenberg.

Customer Reviews

Of Mixed Reviews...
If you haven't already seen this film, you will no doubt be confused by the mixed reviews that are featured here, ranging from five stars to one star. People often compare it to the Matrix as it deals with artificial reality and such, and thus people are disappointed by it not only because it doesn't have the same special effects, but in many ways it is simply not a superior film, though it has a more intelligent script.

People also have a problem with the ending where the film seems to fall apart and becomes very confusing. Personally I think that this confused ending compliments the film, whether it is intentional or not. There are some decent performances from the stars Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and many small appearance from high flyers such Ian Holm and William Dafoe. This is a star-hunters dream.

I thought this was a great film that tackled the issues involved in an interesting and subtle way. The highlight for me was the scene where inside the game Ted says "We're both stumbling around together in this unformed world, whose rules and objectives are largely unknown, seemingly indecipherable or even possibly nonexistent, always on the verge of being killed by forces that we don't understand ... that sounds like a game that's not gonna be easy to market", to which Allegra responds "But it's a game everybody's already playing".

The DVD of this film contains pretty interesting commentary from director David Cronenberg and seperate commentary from director of photography Peter Suschitzy, and visual and special effects supervisor Jim Isaac. I can't say that I've listened to all three, and it is unusual to have commentary from anyone other than the director and the stars. There is also a documentary focusing on production designer Carol Spier. Why they decided to focus on these important but unrecognised members of the film crew is uncertain, but it does all make for some insight into how a film like this is made.

For this price, I would definitely recommend that you fork out for this DVD ... but only if you've already seen the film and know whether or not it suits you. You'll either love it or hate it.

An intelligent matrix
Of the recent crop of reality bending movies - The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, Dark City - Existenz is perhaps the smartest. Superficially a tale of a game designer on the run from industrial rivals in a dystopian near future, it soon takes a step beyond typical Hollywood virtual reality and begins to question what it really means to be in an undetectable simulation.

Existenz doesn't boast stunning visuals or ground breaking effects, but its strength lies in its understated presentation: without realising it, you are gradually sucked into an increasingly disturbing metaphysical territory. Of all the abovementioned films, Existenz is the only one that actually forced me to pause for a moment in order to recollect which of the nested levels of reality the protagonists were currently experiencing, and the only one where the post-movie conversation centred more on the intricacies of the premise than the effects.

And it's always nice to see a movie that credits the audience with some intelligence. It's perhaps unfortunate that such a clever film drips with Cronenberg gore, but if you can stomach that, it is still fully deserving of its five stars.

An under-rated masterpiece
This is a seriously clever movie. If there was ever evidence that Hollywood is dumbing down then eXistenZ is the anti-hollywood food for the brain. Cronenberg opts for intelligent ideas and dialogue rather than full out special effects. Ted Pikul (Jude Law with an impeccible American accent) has to protect Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) from supposed assassins who want to kill her for creating virtual reality games that could potentially damage people's view of reality. The question in this movie is: when does killing a person in a game become as easy in reality? What is reality?
I would describe this as a Matrix type film (it has the same themes of reality and computers controling our lives) but only in theory. Visually, eXistenZ is the furthest thing from The Matrix so don't expect big explosions and machine guns.
One qualm about the DVD: it isn't anamorphic. Thus you have to manually stretch the picture on your widescreen tv. But the sound and picture are great and the extras (especially Cronenberg's commentary) are fascinating. Definitely a movie that gets better on repeat viewings. Its such a complicated story that you can't help but miss some of it first time round.
I loved it.