DVD Talk Forum
Page 2 of 2
1
2
Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page

DVD Talk Forum (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/)
-   Movie Talk (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk-17/)
-   -   Skeleton Key --thoughts after seeing it (https://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/434051-skeleton-key-thoughts-after-seeing.html)

dhmac 08-17-05 09:14 PM
I saw it because a friend recommended it and wanted me to see it.

Before I saw it, the only thing he told me was...
Spoiler:

...that the ending wasn't out of left field and instead there was enough clues provided along the way to figure it out. Which was probably too much to tell me, because I figured everything out after the gas station old lady told Caroline that Papa Justify had been working on a spell to take someone's remaining years away. Once I heard that, it was easy for me to figure out what had happened to the kids, who Ben, Violet & Luke really were, and that they were really targeting Caroline. Then I figured that there were only two ways to conclude this story: either a dark ending with the Hoodoo couple winning, or a cop-out ending in which Caroline kills them both and gets away still inside her own body. I was glad that the filmmakers were bold enough to stick to the dark ending, because it fits the material best.

mdc3000 08-18-05 10:05 AM
I thought it was a pretty solid movie. Much better than I had expected.

Spoiler:
I knew that Peter Saarsgard wasn't on the level, but I didn't figure out the extent of his involvement until the final reveal of what was going on... Mostly because when they said that a person could steal the years they had left, I didn't quite realize it was a "like father like son" body switch and not some sort of stealing their soul to extend your own life. Once the big reveal comes, I love how it all fits together...the reason there are no mirrors and the whole John Hurt storyline finally make quite a bit of sense. And I love how they didn't cop out... a very solid ending.


So I thought Kate Hudson was great and did a good job carrying the movie with the help of the excellent supporting cast. A solid thriller not a scarefest, but worth seeing.

MATT

Agrajag 08-18-05 09:11 PM
Okay, I have to ask a couple of questions.

First, the year 1962 seems to be of specific importance but, to my thinking through of this, it doesn't fully make sense. Justify and Cecile take the kids and watch them die. Okay, that makes sense. Great twist too when you realize later that this is what happened. But then you're told that the kids died of a stroke in 1962. Thus Justify and Cecile were now in the kids bodies and they were getting old so they made their next switch around 1962. If that's in any way accurate, something doesn't make sense. We seem to have missed an entire generation here.

The suggestion is that Justify went from Justify to Martin Thorpe (the boy child) to the lawyer. If he took the lawyer in 1962, the lawyer would now appear to be roughly 70 years old. It appears as if he took the lawyer just recently. If so, who did Justify inhabit between 1962 and 2005? Remember, they said the kids died of strokes in 1962. If you assume they were 70 at the time, that means the original switch happened about 60 years prior or sometime around 1900, which fits the look and presentation of the clips showing the original story.

What am I missing here?

Agrajag 08-18-05 09:13 PM
GRRRR, I tried to hide the two middle paragraphs above and when it didn't work i figured I'd just edit it but see no support for editing existing messages.

tvpuff 08-18-05 11:08 PM
Originally Posted by Agrajag
Okay, I have to ask a couple of questions.

Spoiler:
First, the year 1962 seems to be of specific importance but, to my thinking through of this, it doesn't fully make sense. Justify and Cecile take the kids and watch them die. Okay, that makes sense. Great twist too when you realize later that this is what happened. But then you're told that the kids died of a stroke in 1962. Thus Justify and Cecile were now in the kids bodies and they were getting old so they made their next switch around 1962. If that's in any way accurate, something doesn't make sense. We seem to have missed an entire generation here.

The suggestion is that Justify went from Justify to Martin Thorpe (the boy child) to the lawyer. If he took the lawyer in 1962, the lawyer would now appear to be roughly 70 years old. It appears as if he took the lawyer just recently. If so, who did Justify inhabit between 1962 and 2005? Remember, they said the kids died of strokes in 1962. If you assume they were 70 at the time, that means the original switch happened about 60 years prior or sometime around 1900, which fits the look and presentation of the clips showing the original story.


What am I missing here?
Spoiler:
The suggestion is not that Justify went from Thorpe to the lawyer. Justify and Cecile went from the Thorpe siblings, to the Devereauxes (John Hurt and Gena Rowlands) and then the transfer that the movie depicts, from them to the lawyer and Caroline.

JAA 08-20-05 08:05 AM
I really enjoyed the film. Great atmosphere, good storyline, and good acting. Very pleasantly surprised.

DRG 08-21-05 05:07 PM
Just saw this today. One thing I didn't catch, and if I missed it mentioned in this thread I'm sorry, but
Spoiler:
was there a reason they had to keep the people in their old bodies alive? I suppose they used the old man as bait for Caroline, but they could've just had Gena Rowlands pretend to be sick and had the lawyer pose as her son. It seems they went to great risk to keep them alive, especially when the old man could've just blurted out "They switched my body with the lawyer!"

Venom 08-21-05 06:33 PM
Originally Posted by DRG
Just saw this today. One thing I didn't catch, and if I missed it mentioned in this thread I'm sorry, but
Spoiler:
was there a reason they had to keep the people in their old bodies alive? I suppose they used the old man as bait for Caroline, but they could've just had Gena Rowlands pretend to be sick and had the lawyer pose as her son. It seems they went to great risk to keep them alive, especially when the old man could've just blurted out "They switched my body with the lawyer!"
Spoiler:
i don't think there was any particular reason. with ben though, keeping him in a stroke like state was definitly part of their plan, hence the prior hospice workers who quit. and ultimately it appears natural and clean of fowlplay if they are alive. it seems that ben and then switched old lady were being feed to stay in their condition, that liqiud thing.

movieking 08-22-05 05:41 AM
Did anyone catch Ebert and Roeper's review of this? What exactly were they talking about? They didn't want to give spoilers, but it confused me.

Regardless, I saw it and really enjoyed it a lot. Much better than I expected. A lot like
Spoiler:
Denzel's "Fallen"
IMO, which I really enjoyed as well and thought was vastly underrated.

mdc3000 08-22-05 08:14 AM
Originally Posted by movieking

Spoiler:
Regardless, I saw it and really enjoyed it a lot. Much better than I expected. A lot like Denzel's "Fallen" IMO, which I really enjoyed as well and thought was vastly underrated.
You may want to inviso text that bit eh? Anyone who has seen that film will probably know where Skeleton Key is going to end up! I thought of
Spoiler:
Fallen
too but I think that's only because of the ending...other than that, I don't think the two have much in common. I wasn't a big fan of
Spoiler:
Fallen
but like I said earlier, really liked The Skeleton Key a lot.

MATT

movieking 08-22-05 12:16 PM
Went back and spoilered.

Just went back and listened to the Ebert/Roeper podcast, and to me, it seemed like Ebert wasn't sure

Spoiler:
when the body switching took place with John Hurt

will travel 08-26-05 01:44 AM
Decent Thriller. I give it a Solid 'B'.

cliffzig 09-04-05 07:44 AM
Just caught this last night. I was saddened a bit by the New Orleans scenery in the film. Ya know, beings it's all gone now :(

gerrythedon 09-04-05 01:20 PM
I know what u mean. I saw it Friday and I had forgotten where the movie took place. Then I was like Damn.

Good movie. It wasn't boring, so that's a good thing.

Plus it has Goldielocks in it. :drool:

wastro 09-04-05 03:10 PM
Knowing nothing about the writer and his penchant for twists, I caught this on Friday night. I was pretty fed up with the story and found it to be extremely okay, up until the ending. Like the Usual Suspects, I thought I had the ending figured out, only to be duped in the film's final moments. In retrospect, the twist made the movie better for me, and I thought it was a solid film.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:42 PM.
Page 2 of 2
1
2
Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page


Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.