Where to watch The Skulls
2 Stars
Luke McNamara, a college senior from a working class background joins a secret elitist college fraternity organization called “The Skulls”, in hope of gaining acceptance into Harvard Law School. At first seduced by the club’s trapping of power and wealth, a series of disturbing incidents, such as his best friends suicide, leads Luke to investigate the true nature of the organization and the truth behind his friends supposed suicide. He starts realizing that his future and possibly his life is in danger.
The Fast and Furious franchise would look different had it not been for The Skulls. What do these movies have in common? Director Rob Cohen would follow up this modestly budgeted hit aimed at teens with another Universal Pictures production hoping to catch the 18-35 crowds, F&F. The director recruited Paul Walker, the arrogant semi-villainess character here, as the beach-bum car enthusiast in ‘Fast,’ and the rest is cinema history. The Skulls isn’t as fun as those car pictures, but it hovers over becoming a guilty pleasure instead of just a bad movie. This isn’t an awful movie; it’s just a ludicrous one.
The Skulls have too many plot holes to be viewed as anything other than camp. The lore of secret societies on college campuses is an idea ripe for creative exploration. There is a limit to credulity, and The Skulls pushes past that threshold in the opening thirty minutes and never recovers. Rob Cohen is similar to John Badham; occasionally they make bad movies, but they are never badly made movies. The Skulls is almost laughable in its innocent and glossy-looking depiction of college life and relationships.
Directed by: Rob Cohen
Written by: John Pogue
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker, Hill Harper