Resurrection (1999 Film Review)

1999 Columbia TriStar
Directed by: Russell Mulcahy; Written by: Brad Mirman (Story by: Christopher Lambert)
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Robert Joy, Barbara Tyson, Rick Fox, and Leland Orser
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 108 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 5/10

After his son is tragically killed, Detective John Prudhomme leaves the bayous of South Louisiana to try to start over in the steel valleys of downtown Chicago. No sooner have he and his wife settled in, than a psychopathic serial killer starts lopping off people's body parts in an attempt to recreate the body of Christ from victims named after his disciples. Hmmm...his name is John and his partner's name is Andrew...not good!
Let's get this out of the way: 1999's Resurrection is a Seven...sorry, Se7en ripoff. It takes place in a nightmarish urban setting where it (almost) never stops raining, haunted by a serial killer with a religious method, policed by a wizened, burned out older cop, and his younger, eager partner. It doesn't feature Seven's production values, stellar director and actor pedigree, or shocking twists and turns. It is, however, shocking and fairly enjoyable. The shocking nature of the film comes from its gore, which had to be cut down to avoid NC-17, though I wouldn't be shocked if someone told me Resurrection was NC-17. The violence here is extreme, as the film doesn't shy away from showing heaps of dismembered bodies, rooms often bathed in blood and viscera. Resurrection is not for the faint of heart, but gorehounds will be highly satisfied. There are enjoyable elements here that don't involve dismemberment, though.
As the grieving Prudhomme, Christopher Lambert chews up the gritty scenery, screaming, crying, and constantly running, with his director from Highlander, Russell Mulcahy, rejoining him. Lambert's clearly having a ball, and barely has to tweak his natural French accent to sound Cajun. His performance is over-the-top, but at least it's entertaining. The shining star in this film, though, is Leland Orser. Orser has often played victims of shockingly traumatic events, whether he's an airman who's witnessed dozens of his compatriots get ripped to shreds in Saving Private Ryan, the unwitting witness of a stripper's brutal death in Very Bad Things, and yes...that guy in the movie Resurrection cribs from so heavily, Seven. While eventually, Orser's character is the victim of shockingly traumatic events in Resurrection, he spends the majority of the film cracking jokes, smiling, and acting as Prudhomme's one tenuous link to the outside world and his humanity. It's great to see Orser in a starring role, and he can't have acquitted himself better here. The second great joy in Resurrection is Jonathan Freeman's stunning cinematography. Freeman bathes the entire film in a golden, either holy or unholy light, and every frame is gorgeously lit. The way Freeman shoots rain is particularly vivid and eye-catching.
And finally, one other element elevates Resurrection above a simple Seven clone: it's crazy! Yes, it steals heavily from Seven, which is also admittedly crazy, and its killer, once revealed, is nowhere near as memorable or ingenious. However, Resurrection's crime scenes are absolutely wild, as is the film's constant dark humor, particularly when Orser is joking around. A few moments are strangely affecting, as well, like when Prudhomme struggles to stop the gushing bleeding of a still living victim, only to suddenly realize there's nothing he can do to save him. Prudhomme suddenly gives up on the leg and instead, as he's covered in the victim's blood, embraces the dying man to give him comfort in his final moments. Lambert himself had a hand in the story, and one can easily envision the wily actor coming up with such a killer scene in which to act. The climax of the film also happens to involve the killer holding a crying baby by one leg over the edge of the top of a skyscraper in the pouring rain, so there's that.