If you can slog your way through it all, I did enjoy what the climax had to offer people who invested their time. Kapadia composes a rather touching and gripping finisher to a movie about reincarnation. If you had the chance, would you correct a tragedy that occurred years before? Kapadia's editing, compared to the sad final scene make the climax a mere glimpse of the potential this movie held for audiences. Beyond that, the imagery Kapadia creates is rather entertaining and adds an unexpected sense of tension to the proceedings. I think this is an entertaining visual supernatural film.

Rogue Pictures deceived audiences into thinking “The Return” was really just another intense J-Horror spin, even with Sarah Michelle Gellar who previously brooded her way through “The Grudge,” but really, Kapadia’s supernatural drama likes to model itself after “The Machinist,” in which our main character has a reality that may not be everything she assumes it is, and is constantly haunted by mysterious figures while always in a dream-like environment where music fades, and space and time are easily bent to every scenario this mystery wants our character Jo to be. “The Return” isn’t the worst movie of 2006 as most others have reported, but the reason why it’s mostly been lambasted is for the horrible marketing that painted it as a surefire ghost movie when it really wasn’t anything of the sort. “The Return” is instead a weak and rather dull little drama that really breaks no new ground. Gellar once again exemplifies why she never had it in her to break out from “Buffy,” as her performance here ranges from flat out mediocre to as wooden as a stake.

“The Return” is a take on reincarnation and sets character Jo down with a stranger who comes to her rescue who may not even be in the same time period as she is. You can’t go into this expecting a bonafide horror film, as Kapadia doesn’t seem intent on building one, even in spite of the obligatory jump scares just to keep audiences from dozing off. And I am certain that the cheesy jump scares are in here to keep audiences awake. “The Return” has a lot of potential, and even with the great twist ending revealing the actual hook to the mystery of Joanna’s meetings with shadowy figures, there’s really nothing you will take away from it all. It’s just so lagging, and lethargic and utterly tiresome even with a tight ninety minute run time. It’s not a land mark film in the end, and it’s hardly a horrible movie, it’s just a forgettable purposely mis-advertised drama. I would have loved to be surprised with this, but “The Return” is just a bland affair with a few clever twists here and there.

It’s not the worst movie ever made, it’s not even the worst movie of 2006; that honor goes to “Black Xmas.” It’s just a dull, mediocre, and forgettable supernatural drama with wooden performances from its entire cast. A major overhaul would have turned this into an exceptional film, but there’s no use crying over spilled milk.

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