All Rise...

Judge Gordon Sullivan dwells in the darkness.

The Charge

The only way out is down.

Opening Statement

If we're willing to accept that our forbearers had insight into the human condition—if we still read Dante, Shakespeare, Montaigne—then it's hard to grant the idea that something like alchemy would have reached its baroque level of knowledge and tradition without some basis in the real world. And in fact, while the more outlandish claims of physical immortality are completely unfounded, the system we call alchemy does seem to be a set of coded procedures for producing self-knowledge. No one can actually transmute lead into gold, but alchemy can instead be read as the attempt to purify the baser elements of the self—fear, jealous, anxiety—into the gold of self-knowledge or actualization. Which is a roundabout way of saying that anyone who takes alchemy literally today is probably an idiot. But that's exactly what we're asked to swallow with found-footage style As Above, So Below. Not even a solid lead performance and an excellent use of setting can overcome a flawed premise.

Facts of the Case

Scarlett (Perdita Weeks, The Invisible Woman) is a student of alchemy on a quest to finish her father's work finding the fabled Philosopher's Stone, reputed to grant immortality. We follow her on her quest in Iran as she finds vital new clues that lead her to Paris. There, she discovers that what she desires may be hidden in the 200+ miles of catacombs beneath the city. She enlists the help of some local urban explorers to guide her, but the journey underground is not an easy one.

The Evidence

The philosopher Giambattista Vico wrote The New Science in 1725 and attempted to figure out a system for human knowledge and history. Part of his conclusion is that civilization arises out of the question of what to do with dead bodies. Whether that's true, strictly speaking, is immaterial, because it leads us to look differently at human history; we spend a lot of our time as a species figuring out what to do with dead bodies, whether that's advances in the mortuary sciences or the inordinate amount of time and craftsmanship spent on cemeteries, headstones, and even churches (to a lesser extent). Elaborate funerary monuments, even the pyramids, are all about death. So it's not terribly surprising that one of the greatest cities in the world—Paris—is also home to one of the most interesting examples of what we do with dead bodies. With literally hundreds of miles of tunnels underneath the city, filled to the brim with bones, it's amazing there aren't a long string of films about the Paris catacombs.

And make no mistake, setting the film in catacombs is one of the great things that As Above, So Below gets right. Of course catacombs are, by nature, pretty creepy locations because of all the dead bodies/skeletons, but they're also great because they permit a lot of claustrophobia. As Above, So Below is a "found footage" style film (though not really premised on literal found footage, but rather a first-person documentary style), and uses those formal restraints to good effect in the small spaces of the catacombs. Many found-footage films struggle to create tension when we can see all kinds of places for the characters to escape to, but the restricted vision and location of the film really help build tension.

The film also makes a smart move in casting Perdita Weeks as Scarlett. Many found-footage films suffer from bland, everywoman casting, but As Above, So Below isn't afraid to put an attractive, charismatic woman at the center of the film and this tactic works in its favor. Despite the totally ridiculous premise, and the idea that we have to buy that Scarlett believes in alchemy, Weeks manages to make her character believable to the extent that I actually cared about her mission even while I found it completely unbelievable. I hope this is a lesson to anyone casting this kind of film in the future.

The film also gets a decent Blu-ray release. The 1.85:1/1080p AVC-encoded transfer is fine for the material. The handheld style and low-res visuals don't translate to an eye-popping transfer, but what's here is good. Bright, outdoor scenes have a decent amount of detail, and colors are appropriately saturated. Black levels can get very deep and are pretty consistent. More importantly, the detail is there when you need it, even if there's a bit of crushing sometimes. No significant digital problems like noise or banding are present either. The film's DTS-HD 7.1 surround track is even better. Sound design is both crucial to this film and tremendously well executed. Dialogue is of course clean and clear, but it's the surround effects that really drop viewers into world of the catacombs with lots of directionality and movement.

The set's lone extra is an EPK-style making-of with cast/crew interviews and footage. It's not much, but it's fine. We also get a DVD copy of the film on a second disc, as well as codes for Ultraviolet/iTunes digital copies.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

With all that said, As Above, So Below is far from a great movie. Part of the problem is that it's not sure exactly what it is. In some ways it could be marketed as a 21st century Raiders of the Lost Ark. We've got an intelligent/educated hero(ine) in search of an ancient artifact and headed towards a city with lots of historical significance running into eerie and difficult situations. The handheld style updates the classic formula, and you've got a hit. Except there's so much hokum, especially in the film's final act, that it puts everything but the infamous fridge in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to shame. On the other hand, the film was largely marketed as a horror film. That's not a bad strategy given the spooky catacomb-location. However, the film doesn't really work as a horror film overall because only the second act is anything like horror. It takes 30 minutes to get into the catacombs in the first place, and nothing before that is particularly scary. And once they've made their way into the catacombs and the final act kicks in, things are much less horror-oriented. It makes for a kind of narrative whiplash as the film can't decide what it really is. And that assumes you can even swallow the goofy "philosopher's stone" premise.

Closing Statement

As Above, So Below asks viewers to accept some really wild premises to get to the thrills and scares. Sadly, the interesting premise and solid acting can't make up for the so-so finale and goofy journey. A few more extras might have fleshed some of this material out, but the audiovisual presentation in this set makes it worth a rental for interested viewers.

The Verdict

Not guilty.

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