Up a 'creek' with initiation paddles

For months, the Yale campus was abuzz with rumors of a movie about Yale. Actors' names and farfetched plotlines were thrown around until news trickled into New Haven that The Skulls, a film about Eli secret societies starring Dawson's Creek heartthrob Joshua Jackson, would be released in late March. To call this a movie about Yale, however, would be quite a disservice—the onscreen Bulldogs are a pale imitation of real Yalies, just as this movie is a pitiful imitation of a good film.

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The Skulls had real potential. Director and Harvard alum Rob Cohen's previous flick, The Rat Pack, was a critically acclaimed television movie. One would have thought that his skill and Ivy League experience, combined with the talent of screenwriter John Pogue, MC '87, could have turned out something a little more authentic. Instead, the result is an overstated conspiracy theory tale about the Skulls, a secret society with enough political influence and financial assets to run not just a university, but an entire country. Luke McNamara (Jackson) is offered entrance into the Skulls, an offer with a promise of prestige, distinction and enough cash to pay off his college debts. They are an institution sinister enough to kill Luke's best friend, aspiring journalist Will Beckford (Hill Harper), for attempting to expose its secrets.

Pogue seems to give voice to all the fantasies he had while still at Yale. His depiction of an Eli dorm contains a common room so massive that footballs are thrown across it. All authority, including the Administration and the New Haven Police Department, is utterly corrupt. Even the student body is an idealized version of the one found at Yale. One of the few actual Yale students in the film, Wesley Ng, JE '02, made only a few appearances. In typical Hollywood fashion, every single student shown onscreen is attractive and stylish. Everyone but Luke went to an elite prep school. Luke's "soulmate," fifth-generation Skull Caleb Mandrake (Paul Walker), epitomizes the word "preppie"—Walker, a 27-year-old veteran of other teenie films such as Varsity Blues and She's All That, is finally getting a little closer to acting his age, but talent and good looks can't mask the fact that his character was written with little subtlety or imagination.

Jackson himself tries vainly to bring depth to a shallow, predictable character. To those of us who have never been inside a secret society's tomb, the dark depiction of the Skulls' inner sanctum looks like a sadistic bat cave, full of dimly lit chambers, video cameras, and torture devices. Intent on creating a mood of deception and mystery, Cohen eliminated almost all light from the film. But, as in the rest of the movie, Cohen's intentions are just a little too obvious. In most situations where a light directorial touch could have served to bring the film back down to reality, all Cohen seems to muster is a sledgehammer.

Film

Skulls Directed by Rob Cohen Written by John Pogue Starring Joshua Jackson and Leslie Bibb Showcase Cinemas Orange and New Haven

The cinematography is the sole bright spot in the movie. The Skulls was pitched as featuring rowing, and—despite Jackson's poor form, the fact that Harper is much too large to be a coxswain, and the measly 10 minutes devoted to crew—its original commitment shows through. During the opening regatta scene, the camera soars across the river, barely skimming the water, following the boats with enough attention to make even the most unathletic viewer drool.

Despite all its failings, The Skulls is not a complete lost cause. Its allusions to Yale and Ivy League life are sinfully appealing. Its makers claim that this New Haven school, nicknamed the Bulldogs, whose symbol is the Y, is not in fact Yale, but after months of hearing about a Yale movie, no one's fooled. It's too bad that this movie, which should, by all rights, be good, can't also live up to its advance billing.

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