eXistenZ (1999)

              
Director David Cronenberg's EXISTENZ is a weird, wild, computer-game-
design-er-on-the-run rouser set in an alternate world where said virtual
reality devices are *biological* instead of mechanical.  Translation?
Lots of fleshy constructs and probed orifices and hair-raising "repair"
sequences.  There's also a tooth-firing gun made of "parts" that reap-
pears later, during a queasy Chinese food sequence.  Yum!  Jennifer
Jason Leigh, less irritating and far sexier than usual, plays the pur-
sued; Jude Law is her accompanying PR person-turned-partner-on-the-lam.
They're OK.  Smaller roles range from Willem Dafoe to Ian Holm.  None of
the characters ever entirely gel, however, due to a plot that's by turns
confusing and even a bit silly.  By the final scenes, everything at long
last makes satisfying sense.  I'm glad I didn't walk out...  (Rated "R"/
97 min.)

Grade: B        

Copyright 1999 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros