It certainly runs in the family though it could be said that nothing David Cronenberg did touched son Brandon's penchant for gore and sexual explicitness . Right from the start you need to have a strong constitution to watch "Possessor" without flinching. However, like his father, Brandon has a keen eye for a good image and whatever else you may say about "Possessor" it looks good, at least those bits of it that I saw; not being a fan of extreme gore I did shut my eyes several times.
The plot is a daft hybrid of sci-fi and 'assassin-for-hire' as Andrea Riseborough, through brain implant technology, (that's what it says on the synopsis), is able to inhabit other people's bodies turning them into disposable assassins. It seems like a clever idea though it never feels particularly original so it's left to Cronenberg's flashy direction of less than brilliant material to keep it together.
Unfortunately Cronenberg is more interested in shocking us than either entertaining or engaging us or indeed even keeping us up to speed, (maybe I just didn't pay close enough attention). Again like his dad he clearly has talent, making you wish he would apply it to something less silly than this. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Abbot and Sean Bean are also on hand but no-one in the cast is given the opportunity to break out of their limited, one-dimensional roles. Less yuckiness and less gobbledygook might have saved it but as it stands it's something of an offensive mess but at least one you are likely to forget five minutes after it's over.
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