User reviews

I am surprised that this has got such bad ratings. Admittedly, it's not great, but it's not that bad either.

Started off really well and had heaps of potential. However, after a point it loses focus and starts to drift. Still, a decent and intriguing story.

Good performances from Ewen McGregor and Ashley Judd.

Completely spoiled by the really quiet dialogue, so you turn up the volume so you can hear it only to have to turn it back down again when the music or action happens, so if you watch this at home keep your finger on the volume button

This thing must have looked good on paper--the only reason I can think of that Ewan MacGregor and Ashley Judd would associate themselves with it. Funny thing is, I think there might be a good movie in here somewhere. I mean, was it good at some point until some outside force--a producer or a test audience, for instance-started messing with it? The plot is incomprehensible, something producers in screening rooms tend to not like. "But we have to put SOMETHING out there for god's sake! It's got two big stars in it!" My question is, did their tinkering make the film more or less confusing?

We may never know. Having paid close attention to the film (the interesting direction and photography held my attention), however, I have been able to surmise the following: a spy code-named ‘Eye,' (the miscast Ewan MacGregor) who's afraid of his own shadow, not to mention losing his mind since his wife left him (this same subject was covered in the far superior Zero Effect), falls in love with a beautiful killer (Ashley Judd). He's supposed to be getting her arrested but, as he keeps following her, becoming more and more obsessed, he starts protecting her. Judd's "Joanna" is a parasite. She targets well-to-do men, feeds off of them for a while, then kills them. Eye also tries to protect her victims from her, but usually fails--until she becomes a victim herself at the hands of the scary, creepy Jason Priestley (yes, THAT Jason Priestley). He saves her, only to lose her, then finds her again. This time he has the nerve to actually talk to her. But will he finally do his job and turn her in or will he become her next victim?

Before I start sounding too much like the back of a video box, let me just say that there is a lot here for those willing to pay close attention to it. Too often, though, it seems like it's trying too hard to be interesting, doing so at the expense of storytelling. It also seems self-important--as if they don't want the audience to understand. Some parts of it are just plain bad (like every one of k.d. lang's scenes).

Like I said, watch closely and you may get something out of it. Then again, no one should have to work that hard at watching a movie.

Grade: D

Another rental that I feel I have wasted $4 on and about two hours of my life. The plot didn't make sense and was hard to follow. The pace was also painstakingly slow. This is a story that probably needs the format of a book to be able to understand. I didn't like the main character. He was a stalker and they made that out to be like it was okay. I would recommend a pass on this movie.

Ashley Judd has turned in excellent performances in movies like "Double Jeopardy". But this movie is pathetic. The character played by Ewan McGregor seemed to be on drugs. This movie was weird,dumb,and boring.

I had not seen this movie when originally released because of bad reviews. I did however recently pick up the DVD in the $5.99 rack at Target mainly because I really like Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd. They did do their usual fine job of acting but I must admit that the plot was convoluted and illogical and the first time through watching it normally, I was disappointed in the lingering confusion.

I then watched the one deleted scene and the alternate ending and it changed my whole perspective. Sometimes alternate endings do not really change much but this was the most dramatically different alternate ending I have ever seen. It wrapped up everything for me and made the whole thing crystal clear and satisfying.

I can not imagine why they left out this long segment that does not so much result in an alternate ending per se, but rather fills in a lot of the holes that I had in my head. It is worth your time to rent the DVD and see this alternate ending. It may change your mind about the movie.

This movie made absolutely no sense at all. NONE. 'What?' and 'Why?' were questions I was asking throughout the film. I didn't understand what was going on at all. It seemed that each scene had absolutely nothing to do with the next, and in a movie like this you just assume "well it will all come together at the end." But it doesn't. Nothing is explained. I never understood what Ashley Judd's character was trying to do, and I never understood what "the Eye" was trying to find out. It's completely incoherent. I didn't understand this at all. I always thought that it was coming together, but everything always fell apart. It's no wonder that it wasn't released for so long after they made it. It didn't make any sense. It was a complete waste of time. It's like they were just making it up as they filmed it. If it wasn't for Ashley Judd's sudden popularity, I doubt it would've been released at all. Don't bother. I'm upset because I just wasted an hour and a half of my life.

What a stupid movie this is. I could go down the list of everything wrong with this crap, but there's no point. Simply put, nothing makes sense. It's a bunch of abstract, wannabe artsy scenes strung together with a dumb plot and abhorrent dialogue. For the entire movie I just felt bad for the actors - McGregor and Judd - for having to recite this verbal diarrhea. If I had to explain the story, it's basically that Judd's character is a sexy killer and McGregor's character gets a crush on her and starts stalking her. It's so dumb. There are subplots that are made out to be important in the beginning but get a half-assed resolution near the end. The ending itself is abrupt and horrendous. It's just so frustrating watching these characters do and say the dumbest things imaginable. I did get a few good laughs though.

I'm not even touching the fact that this is a tech-y investigation movie and how horrifically dated it looks now, but that could be forgiven if there was a good story to follow. As it is, the only defining characteristic of Eye of the Beholder is that it's the worst turd in Ewan McGregor's acting career and also happens to be the name of a Metallica song. Please don't watch this; don't make the same mistake I did.

Essentially, this is a giant mound of malodorous garbage of a film made, apparently, before Ashley Judd's successful appearance in DOUBLE JEAPORDY, having languished in a film can for some years and finally sold to its distributor for a meager $4 million to take advantage of Judd's newly found fame.

This film was either made by someone whose bread is not quite fully baked or somehow terribly mangled in the post production and editing process to the point where nothing makes any sense. Dialog is often pointless and meaningless, action is not only unbelievable but often stupid. The film has no substantial story or structure. Its worse sin, it bores.

The film, as it was presented in national release, depicts senseless murder and in a fashion that attempts to trivialize murder. The murders themselves are done by characters with no understood or delineated provocation nor are the murderer's characters developed to the point where it is possible to understand this extremely negative and destructive human behavior.

This is not movie entertainment. It is incoherent, amateur waste of capital and will squander your time as well in the watching. We are not surprised by the release of the film since the bottom line of Hollywood, all too often, is greed. Each time an outrageous piece of dung like this is released it gives the industry and America a black eye. Spare yourself and stay away from this pile of rubbish.

Here's an extremely stylish, different film panned by almost all the professional critics which means here's another example of why they should be ignored. You are better off reading the reviews of people here,

Being one who appreciates stylish film-making, I thoroughly enjoyed the images and the sound on this movie. I found it absolutely fascinating. Being a male, it doesn't hurt that Ashley Judd stars in it, either.

To be fair, I can see where the story would turn off a number of people.The co- lead, Ewan McGregory's character, is odd and not very credible. k.d. lang's character is unlikable, there is some stupid numerology as part of the story and the ending is unsatisfying .

Yet, despite the above, the story is very involving and the visuals and sound (5.1 surround) are just so good that they outweigh the negatives. The movie flat-out entertains, which is the name of the game.

This was one of the worst feature films I have ever seen. I'm a big fan of McGregor and Ashley Judd is usually always great--but this movie was the biggest waste of time since Bob Dole ran for office. There are confusing elements introduced early that are never fully explained--and there seems to be an element of the story line that was left on the cutting-room floor, because there are exchanges between the two principals that are so ambiguous you feel like you've missed half of the movie.

Despite over 300 comments, some people are still posting saying that it was beyond them and what do the rest of us see in it. Those naysayers should actually read the posted comments.

I watched the film twice, read Marc Behm's book and then watched it again. I would like to see the original film version, 'Mortelle randonnée'(1983) (it has a really good soundtrack album by Carla Bley), but so far have not found a video-rental shop that has a copy. Like the director, Stephan Elliott's major film, 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert', 'Eye of the Beholder' is a road movie about eccentrics, one of whom is into wigs and changing her appearance. Like Marc Behm's script for 'Charade'(1963) it is about a spook who is looking after a young woman who doesn't really know what is going on. I can't think of any parallels with Marc Behm's Beatles film 'Help!'(1965). Actually Behm has 13 IMDB credits, and most of them are difficult to find. As are his other novels.

The major improvement over the book is the addition of the hi-tech snooping equipment. The book's Eye is an old-fashioned gumshoe who simply looks though bedroom windows and the like. Also the making the lost daughter's ghost more solid is an interesting effect. We don't have to know that the girl is dead to think of the image of her as a ghost. I didn't notice that she is played by two actors. The problem is that Ewan McGregor is too young for the role. At the end of the book he dies of old age. I think that the book captures his slipping into obsession better, and part of the picture is that Joanna Eris is about the age that his daughter would have been. A side-effect of his computer tools etc, is that it becomes more unlikely that he would not be able to find his ex-wife and daughter. But as the film makes him a Brit in the States, they would be back in Britain.

Obviously the script had to drop a lot of the incidents in the book. In the film it is extremely implausible that he is able to get a room next to Joanna in the New York hotel. In the book he tails her for several months through a few murders, which would give him a chance to take a sublet in the building.

The rich blind man is called 'Forbes' in the book. Given the real-life family of that name, it was probably best to change it.

In the book the scene where Joanne is identified in the restaurant where she is working, takes place in New Jersey. In the film it is said to be Alaska, although we know that it is somewhere in Quebec. Why didn't the film say that it was Quebec. Then the crew would not have to work so hard hiding all the French signs. I presume that in 'Mortelle randonnée' all the places were changed to places in France (where apparently Marc Behm lives).

An ironic detail. The book has several cross-dressing incidents: the Eye does nanny-drag to continue his surveillance; Joanna and a woman friend not in the book do male drag to rob banks and filling-stations, and the Jason Priestley character, Gary, is a cross-dressing fetishist. I suppose that the director of Priscilla feels that he has done the topic.

I would have liked the film to have kept the incidents where Joanna almost recognizes the Eye, including the time when she hires a detective to capture him.

The film has a lot more in it than most thrillers. It avoids the cliches, challenges the viewer, but doesn't really gel. There are too many nagging questions afterwards.

I thought this movie was going to be interesting. Boy, could I have been ANY more wrong? Ashley Judd still gave a decent performance, even though the movie made absolutely no sense. All the characters seem to be wearing sort of old fashioned type clothes, yet the technology incorporated into the film is far too advanced for that. Also, if he is a British spy type guy, why is he following her all over the United States? The story line was horrible...all that happened was a few guys were murdered, Ewan MacGregor became obsessed with Ashley Judd, and he keeps seeing visions of his daughter who you assume was taken from him by his former wife, but she seems to appear as a ghost. (Who you even see blurs of in developed pictures...again, something that has nothing to do with what SHOULD be the initial plot.) The only effect this movie had on me was after it ended, I shrugged my shoulders and said "HUH?!" Don't waste your time on this one.

Movies like this should come with a warning label: "Caution! Do not operate heavy machinery after watching"

Unfortunately, I violated one of my own rules of movie-going: never---I repeat, NEVER---go to a movie that the "critics are raving about." The only reason ANYBODY would "rave" about this movie is they couldn't figure it out, so they figure it MUST have some deeper meaning. Anybody that doesn't like it must be one of the shallow, non-creative types that only likes predictable movies. There's ALWAYS a deeper meaning.

Trust me. There's no deeper meaning. There's only two hours of non-stop rambling trash that you'll no-doubt find in the cut-out bin of your nearest video store in the next three months. No plot. No character development. Nada. Nil. Fin.

Anything the so-called "critics" love is bound to be a worthless piece of #@!$.

I feel sorry for anyone renting this movie and was deceived by the interesting writing about it on the back of the movie. Psychologically, this movie made no sense, even though the characters were both insane they were completely boring. I cringed throughout the entire move and highly suggest that no one should ever rent this movie.....EVER.

This Against-the-Grain Thriller-Romance-Neo-Noir Stars Two of the Most Engaging and Likeable Actors Working at the Turn of the New-Millennium.

Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd

They are Tasked, and Succeed, in Anchoring this Crazy Mash-Up of the Psychological, Disturbing, Twisted, Crime-Spy-"Romance", Movie that Throws Expectation and Tradition to the Wind.

It's a Surreal Tale that Takes-Place in an Alternate Universe of High-Tech-High-Finance Surveillance/Investigations that are Familiar to Movie Audiences.

It Presents its Tale with an Insane Ambience where Characters, Not in Control of Their Diminishing and Destructive Faculties and Act-Out in Unexpected Methods Befitting Their Insanity.

This Makes for a Bumpy-Ride for Audiences Wanting a Smooth, Easy to Comprehend Unfolding where Motivations are Clear and Characters are Predetermined.

The Film Dodges Formulaic Behavior and Weaves a Disturbing Experience that can be as Intriguing as it is Unsettling.

The Two Characters, Ewan a Paid Surveillance Expert with a Troubling Disintegration of the Estrangement of His Beloved Child-Daughter...

"She was taken from me by her mother...She just came home from school one day and no longer had a father."

Ashley's Past is too of Abandonment and Isolation on an even Deeper Destructive Force that Turned Her into the Dementia Base Woman that is a Juggernaut.

An Art-House Take on the Prolific Genres Main-Stream Audiences Lap-Up and Patronize like so many Pavlovian Patrons.

This is Obviously Not for Everyone.

On the Surface it Looks Like Any Other Offering, Including A-List Stars in a Story that is Inviting to the Non-Discriminatory.

This is Gloriously"One-Step Beyond" All That. Yea!

i like to give every movie a chance, thus i watch the whole thing no matter how awful it is in the beginning and middle. i always hope for a redeeming end. i tend to get some type of satisfaction, but this movie just made everything ten times worse. the ending made absolutely no sense at all. in the beginning you are led to think that the story is actually going somewhere, but then it goes in a totally different direction. his obssession is never clear, never makes sense. his reappearing (ghost) daughter is totally stupid and never really explained thoroughly enough. it's really sad that two very good actors were cast in this. it seems like they truly are trying to do their best but are just as confused as the viewers. i found this movie to be a complete waste of time and money. very sad indeed.

Call me a sucker, but I really like Ashley Judd, and, even thought there wasn't much acting in her role here. it was worth watching, and not just for the brief glimpse in the tub.

I wasn't always sure where director Stephan Elliott was going, but I was willing to tag along for the ride. It was definitely for Hitchcock fans with Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, Moulin Rouge!). It was really his film, doing all the real acting.

This was a film about loss, and obsession, and guilt. It is one of those films that affects people differently as they bring themselves into it. It is deep and dark, and worth a look.

Of course, I have always thought Geneviève Bujold to be very attractive, and almost cried at how she looked here. The film also features Jason Priestley and k.d. lang.

I kept waiting and waiting for some clue as to what in the world was going on, who was related to whom, and what was this all about? And I'm usually a very perceptive movie-goer. A very unsatisfying waste of two hours. Really felt violated by the film-makers after this one.

It's the films that get hardly no, or very little exposure in commercial advertising that usually strike you the most when you're sitting in a theatre of people, not knowing what to expect. This is much the case with this movie. It's a sort of David Cronenberg meets Roman Polanski type of film, mixed in with a bit of Stanley Kubrick. Needless to say, the movie is a surreal one, that incorporates a brilliant cast with an incredible script and wonderful artistic direction.

It's hard to say what the film is about, other than to suggest it's about obsession. That's the way I see it at least. The acting really brings out the reality of the film, and all I can say is Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd are just magical together in this film! K.D. Lang, well, I didn't really like her in the film at all; I felt her character didn't do much for the film.

If your kind of film is a dynamic, unpredictable, original and surrealistic film, then this one would be a good addition to your list of seen films. If not, and you prefer action-based films, then this movie could definitely hit it off. It has elements of almost all film genres, so everyone should go out and see it!

A high-tech private eye (Ewan McGregor) inexplicably falls in love with a very deranged woman he's watching (Ashley Judd). k d lang pops up every once in a while as sort of a Greek chorus. This movie is hilariously bad--the dialogue is mind-numbing and the plot jumps around with little rhyme or reason. Some of the acting helps. Judd is excellent as the femme fatale and lang is lots of fun whenever she pops up. Also Genevieve Bujold puts in a strong cameo. But McGregor is seriously miscast. He's a very good actor but this role is totally beyond him. He tries but it's no go.

Still, I love the movie. It never stops moving, it looks gorgeous and director Elliott is constantly shooting sequences in every way possible--I was never bored. Also a very strange music score helps.

So, is it a good movie? Definetely not. Is it fun to watch? Hell yeah! The laugh-out-loud dialogue, the showy direction, Judd looking great, McGregor trying to get a grip on his character--go for it!

I am a very big fan of Ashley Judd. I have been looking forward to this movie coming out. I was left dumbfounded, as well as the entire movie audience. We all felt like we missed something. The movie did not make any sense. The ending was a big disappointment. I am a very open-minded person when it comes to movies, but I am sorry, this movie sucked.