The I Inside (2004)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fantastic!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I inside takes a shot at a very hard target and unfortunately misses. I was curious why i haven't seen this movie as i enjoy the genre very much, and i was suspicious why the low rating. The movie feels like someone tried very hard to prepare it 'by the recipe' but like in cooking for the first time by following a recipe - the meal is edible, but not that enjoyable. It starts good as you can rarely miss on the first few ingredients and then the errors start piling up. Some scenes are predictable, others just have some illogical elements. As the story unfolds it is disappointingly failing to gradually become better. The drama that is presented in the story didn't mirror correctly on the characters. The main characters were having difficulties defining themselves and their shifting morals. Don't get me wrong i did enjoy this movie i just am a big fan if this genre and can be thus a bit more criticizing. There aren't that many movies of this type, so i am actually very glad to have seen it.

Imagine waking up in the hospital after an accident, not knowing what happened, and then realizing that it's two years later than you thought it was. That is the dilemma faced by Simon Cable in The I Inside. This ambitious thriller has you piecing together the puzzle along side it's star Ryan Phillippe. The I Inside jumps around, far too much, between past, present, and future to tell it's story, a story that you really won't care about. It's a very uninteresting tale, that is told to you a piece at a time and to be honest, that's why you watch the film. It's confusing and not very good, but once you've invested the time, you want to know what happens. Ryan Phillippe was Brilliant as Simon Cable, proving that it really isn't all about the looks, he can act too, but again it's wasted talent in a very uninteresting tale. Phillippe is paired with Sarah Polley, who I absolutely love, the fact that she was in this film, is what put it on my radar, but she easily gives the worst performance of her career. Yes, the story wasn't very well written, but if everyone had put the energy into their roles that Phillippe did, the film would have at least had some credibility. The films Director is Roland Richter, was directing his first film in the United States. I don't know about movies in Germany, but here in the United States, if you're going to release a jumpy, confusing film, you'd had better make the story worth while. Richter fails to do that and the result is a slow, confusing film, that has you asking, "is that it? Really?" The I Inside is unique and will make you think, but the story being told, really isn't worth the time it takes to piece it all together.

This is like seeing a good runner giving his best efforts while running to later be stopped because someone out of the blue crosses his path causing him to lose the race or get in the second or third place. You feel bad for that kind of situation. Just like the runner "The I Inside" begins with lot of promise to later become uninteresting and dull, almost laughable at parts.It got me completely hooked at first but then little by little the lack of suspense prevented the movie from being nice to follow and the confusion towards the ending messed up the whole thing big time. It's fun to give it a shot at the life of a man (Ryan Phillippe) who after an accident wakes up from the coma, barely remembering anything, developing the strange ability to go back and forth between the space of two years. But he needs to fill the gaps in his mind: What really happened to him? Who are these people surrounding me? I'm married? Did I killed my brother? There's plenty of mystery to be solved before he loses his mind. And it gets better when he realizes his power to in between the years to change his past and his future (or maybe recollect his memories in another way). By the time you reach the ending "The I Inside" is no longer appealing. It had great potential but got lost somewhere. One of the writers was the same one who wrote the amazing "Identity" with John Cusack and a great cast involved in a mysterious and surprising plot with a twisted ending that haunts me for years. Sure, there's a huge plot twist in this too but it's so ineffective that only causes small reactions in the audience. Luckily, the cast doesn't disappoint and it's a miracle seeing Stephen Lang playing a good guy for once.All I can say is that "The Butterfly Effect" was way better than this. 4/10

I'm surprised that some user comments found "The I Inside" even marginally watchable; there may be some star attraction in Sarah Polley or Ryan Philippe, but they are both ill used, and it is difficult for me, at least, to imagine genuine tears falling from Philippe's eyes as he mourns his existential condition with lines like, "This can't be --expletive deleted-- true!" and a moment later (as we switch to existential condition #2) "This can't be --another expletive-- happening!" (A reflective person, one gathers, this character apparently isn't.) Indeed, the action of the film (such as there is) is so preposterous, one can't imagine it happening anyway; but then this film knows not whether it is sci-fi or thriller, mystery or psychological drama -- no wonder the audience is reduced to focusing on its stars rather than on what they say or do as characters. Sorry -- a 2 star rating to a film that features glamorous actors in unglamorous, unflattering roles, and is absurd in the event to boot.