White Noise 2: The Light (2007)

Such a frustrating disappointment

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Spoiler warning, like it matters because this movie was terrible. It takes a really bad movie to get me to write a review to have my revenge.It's the story of a man named Abe whose wife and son are murdered by a gunman who shoots himself. Abe decides to commit suicide to reunite with them, but just as he is about to join them in heaven, his dopey pal intervenes, and he is restored to life on the operating table, a near death experience. Though his life is empty, he has a consolation prize, he now has to power to tell when someone will die by seeing a white light surrounding him. So he runs around trying to save people before they get killed, to make up for not being able to save his family. Well no good deed goes unpunished in horror films, so we are faced with the "Final Destination" like consequences of interfering in God's wonderful plan. See all these people that get saved end up turning evil after three days, and murder other people. And that's why the gunman killed Abe's family, because he had saved them before and he didn't want them to turn evil. He could also see the light.So, if you were to meet a potential mass murderer and say to him "hey killing is wrong." And he says "You're right. I don't want to be a jerk, so I will turn myself in to the authorities." Then you think you are a big hero. But guess what you did? You just unleashed Satan big time. Because all those people that you saved had a white light around them that meant they were meant to die. Now that they are saved they will turn evil in 3 days and kill more people. Then you are tasked with the responsibility of running around trying to kill all those former innocent people before they go on a killing spree themselves.SAVING PEOPLE IS A GOOD THING!!! Enough with this Final Destination CRAP!!!

So I decided to watch the big budget stinker that must be with a title like "White Noise 2". Because I'm the type of self loathing jerk who enjoys watching a train wreck and then commenting on how they could've made it look more believable and encouraged more emotions from me had I known the people on board. So with that in mind I started the sequel to the unfamous (not infamous) "White Noise 1", which starred Michael Keaton and was boring in the way that "War in Peace" is long. The movie was a train wreck but with better casting. However its sequel surprised me.First off, it starred Nathan Fillian who is to good films what Pauley shore is to good films. But, and it shocks me to say this, he was actually good. Better than I've ever seen him before. So if you're ever wondering why he was such a gigantic ham with low acting talent in Firefly, I guess we'll have to blame it on the directing, because here's a movie with approximately the budget of one episode of firefly (that's 1/6 of the entire series for you budget hawks) and he's pulling off acting that makes me wonder why he's phoned it in while performing in everything else I've ever seen him in.A few minutes in, I suddenly realized that the casting director has a huge boner for nerdy TV shows. One guy who had a run on Smallville, Caiptain Tightpants, and (I kid you not) Katee Sackhoff in a nurse outfit with purple highlights... It's not even my birthday, but thank you for the masturbation present anyway. So this all sets up a plot that I have to say... took work. In an interesting (and not drawn out) turn of events, Nathan's family is killed and he tries to kill himself, but returns to life only to find that he can see things that aren't entirely legit. He then learns that this is a sort of ticking clock on when people are going to die. He then uses this power to save people just before they die.I know what you're thinking, isn't this supposed to be a horror movie?. No, I told you earlier, it's a thriller that goes boo. Oh, yes... and he notices that ghosts are talking through the white noise in the TV, There's your tie in to the first one. Now can we move on? So he slowly starts figuring out that the guy who killed his wife had a similar power, and Nathan goes on an exploration of this condition. It gets kind of interesting. Oh, and Katee Sackhoff makes a few more appearances.So the story: It holds together pretty well until at the end in begins falling apart. It almost seems like the screenwriter really had something, but that deadline forced him to jot out the ending in less than a day. Also the Davinci code style math thing was pretty dumb. Also, they did the heart paddle thing completely wrong. And also, heart stopping doesn't mean you're "legally dead" anymore. So, you know what... There's a couple things it does right and a bunch of stuff it does wrong. Like any other movie.But what I really love, is the directing. The subtle hints that are laid throughout the movie are an easy way to make me applaud your movie. One of the things that happens early on is that Nathan makes his sons breakfast look like a face. So there's a face in his breakfast, and later he finds faces in things around him... The film is incredibly well shot. Several times I wondered if the director or cinematographer was going for an award with a sequel to a failed horror movie. Honestly, they knew they were supposed to phone this one in, right? I'm not supposed to be impressed with the quality of a movie called "White Noise 2".So in the end, I liked it. It wasn't perfect and the end should just be rewritten. But all in all, I can forgive the movie jumping out to say "boo", it's supposed to be scary, though no one told the screenwriter. I can forgive the bad math, and incorrect medical stuff, and I can sort of forgive the randomness of the ending. Mostly because I think the filming technique and the acting cover for it nicely. I recommend it, but only when you're in the mood to see an "ok" movie. It certainly won't make your top 10, but It's better than yelling at a train wreck that it should've been directed better.

Call this a "White Noise" sequel and maybe you draw a few more viewers than you would if you called it something else. But this is not a true sequel, and maybe that's for the best as "White Noise" with Michael Keaton left much to be desired. In WN2, Nathan Fillion of "Firefly/Serenity" fame plays an average joe whose family is brutally killed in front of him. The plot is a bit convoluted, but what it boils down to is, in the aftermath of their deaths, Fillion discovers he can spot people who are about to die. He decides to play superhero and save them, only to find worse things follow when he does. Much worse things. The film's mood is properly eerie, and Fillion is nicely subdued as our haunted and confused hero. This is a Canadian flick, which means you won't recognize most of the cast. Good for a late night scare or two.

I only created this account to review this movie. My boyfriend really liked White Noise, the original, and he doesn't give many movies a chance. He is not easily scared, whereas I get scared if someone comes up behind me and surprises me! I got nightmares from Gremlins and The Ghost in the Darkness for christs sake! I'll admit, most scary movies these days scare me more when I allow myself to be frightened as opposed to expecting the movie to do all the work (most people who go into a movie expecting it to be lame are rewarded with a lame movie), but this movie was so predictable I could actually count down to the "scary" parts! Really!? DEAD PEOPLE?? Wow. And the scene where the girl gets groped by some perv cuz she spills her drink on him?? Show me in what business district in the middle of the day does some well-dressed group of guys beat up and shove some guy off of a bridge and threaten to rape a woman because of a spilled drink? Bad s**t happens in this world, every day, but that was not believable AT ALL. And using a bunch of actors from SciFi didn't help, lol. At least in the original they explored the whole EVP aspect and showed how communication with the dead may not be a good thing. This was lame effects mixed with some of the worst dialogue ever written! The fact that the main chick had hair that looked like she ripped it off of Brittany Murphy's head from 8 Mile and couldn't get that d**n smile off her face didn't help the case that the love of her life was dead and she sympathised with the guy's situation. "You saved my life...I'd love to return the favor" what? by going to a bar and throwing yourself at the guy? Wow...thank you everyone who said to see this. Honestly, if you liked this at all, go waste your money on the movie "The Damned Thing." Saw that last week thanks to reviews like this movie got. Very, VERY disappointed and will have trouble trusting this site for reviews. Hope I stopped a few people from wasting money on this!!