Excitable camerawork, snappy editing, unnecessary shots, and musical cues employed for melodramatic effect. A hard-boiled detective who has a troubled personal life and no social skills, paired with a high-strung, wise-cracking partner. A precise and perfect series of clues left behind, leading to incredible sudden realizations on the part of the former detective. Grainy picture quality, employed alongside dark interior lighting with very artistically minded lighting. Director Russell Mulcahy has some very particular ideas about film-making, and alongside some of the scraps in Brad Mirman's screenplay, there are inclusions in 'Resurrection' that rather made me laugh for the effect. Still, it's a suitably enjoyable thriller, flavored with tinges of horror, and does a good job of keeping us watching.
While some of the plot development is simply too neat and tidy for its own good, and some of the choices herein generally are a tad too on the nose, at large there's a lot to like about this. For whatever aspects of this are overdone - there's some sharp intelligence in the narrative and scene writing, building a story that's decidedly grisly and dark. Especially given the biblical implications, one could make definite comparisons to 1995 thriller 'Se7en,' and the same could be said of some of Mulcahy's stylization, too. 'Resurrection' does a great job of building earnest tension and suspense, alongside no small amount of revulsion. I really quite like James McGrath's score, bearing genuine variety and lending atmosphere at many points. The fundamentals of film-making and storytelling, that to an extent come across as just a smidgen Too Much, are reined in and tightened as the runtime advances, actually helping the picture to maintain engagement.
Christopher Lambert is arguably typecast as protagonist John Prudhomme, but he nevertheless gives a fine performance as the determined detective. Leland Orser and Robert Joy, meanwhile, are consistently underappreciated, and both demonstrate it here with charged, spirited performances that make the most of the time they're given on-screen. Even those in still smaller parts do a swell job of helping to move the feature forward, and it's an especial small joy to see David Cronenberg make a brief appearance as Father Rousell. Mulcahy's direction is rather enthusiastic, but not sloppy, and he achieves some fetching shot composition; Mirman's writing occasionally goes a half-step too far, but he nonetheless successfully crafts a gripping, gnarly tableau. The blood and gore look fantastic, as does the set design and decoration generally, and the basic orchestration of every scene is wonderfully well done, including the climax not least of all.
The violence and grim tone certainly means this won't appeal to everyone, and there's maybe nothing so essential about 'Resurrection' so as to demand viewership. Still, despite its flaws, this is much more well made than not, and if I had my doubts at first blush, I was hooked well before the ending rolled around. Recommended especially for fans of the cast or of similar crime thrillers, you don't necessarily need to go out of your way to watch it, but if you come across 'Resurrection,' it's suitably engrossing to deserve two hours of your time.
