Question: What do you get when you mix a story about finding where one comes from with the criminal underworld and Alice in Wonderland?
Answer: The very strange, but not totally terrible Malice.
The film opens with a girl (Maggie Grace) being chased by two men. The chase ends when a cab driver hits her accidentally as she runs across the road. The cab driver, Whitey (Danny Dyer), takes the girl with him cause he’s in a hurry. When she finally wakes up she has no memory of who she is.
What follows is a bizarre blend of a criminal underworld story mixed with elements taken from Alice in Wonderland. You have a tea party, a Duchess, a Cheshire Cat, Tweedle-Dee & Tweedle-Dum and a Red Queen amongst others, all with a modern criminal twist.
As the girl, who eventually learns that her name is Alice, tries to get her memory back she travels through this strange dark part of London littered with all these kooky characters. There are people out to get her and not all of them have her best interests at heart.
Maggie Grace is probably best known as Shannon from Lost. Her performance in this film is pretty solid, it shows she has more to offer than what she gave on TV. Danny Dyer as Whitey is probably the most interesting character and best performance in the film. Whitey is a very classic antihero that you can’t help but like.
The film has a look that is perhaps a little too stylized for it’s own good. To give the feel of the off-kilterness of this Wonderland Dutch angles are constantly used and they get a little old after a while.
Frankly, I think the film kind of hurt itself with trying all the Wonderland aspects into the story. Had it just been about a girl trying to regain her memory while being surrounded by this dangerous criminal element, it might have been a great movie. However, all the Wonderland stuff seems way to familiar. It feels like the filmmakers were trying just a little too hard to fit as much as they could in and it takes you out of the story.
The film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. Sound is in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. It’s a very colorful film to be sure and the transfer really pops on the screen.
Making of Wonderland: (10 min.) Typical making of.
Photo Gallery: (7 min.) A photo montage set to the music of the film.
Trailers There are a whole bunch of trailers on this disc.
I can’t say this is a bad movie and I can’t say this is a good movie. It had interesting elements, but not everything worked. If you’re really bored or just curious it might be worth a rent, but otherwise don’t bother.
Magnet Releasing presents Malice in Wonderland. Directed by Simon Fellows. Written by Jayson Rothwell. Starring Maggie Grace and Danny Dyer. 87 minutes. Rated R for language, some sexual content, drug use and brief violence. Released on DVD: May 11, 2010. Available at Amazon.com.
