The much hyped, much awaited movie is finally here. For years Hollywood has been churning out movies based on the devils, demons, ghosts and other supernatural forces, but no one has really touched upon what the Muslim world’s perception of Jinn.
So the movie begins by telling us that in the beginning, God created man out of clay, created angels out of light and created a third out of fire. Set in present day Michigan, we meet a young couple Shaan and his wife Jasmine. Shaan receives an unexpected gift one day in the form of a VHS, after viewing which becomes clear of all the mysterious happenings in the young couples lives. Turns out that there is a Jinn following Shaan for reasons he finds out later. I will not get into all the whats and whys and hows, but I will tell you this much: Jinn is a massive disappointment, and I hate that!
I really wanted to like this movie. Despite a very solid start, I lost all interest after two revelations: who Gabriel is, and what the Jinn looks like. The movie nose dives into a completely different territory and by the end of it all, I was like WTF! The Firebreather car, the crazy lunatic uncle who dies and then just reappears all of a sudden, the senseless role of the priest, the hammy acting all just made it difficult to like the movie.
The director touches upon the Islamic stance on Jinn, but they never feel fully developed; getting zamzam water to fend off the jinn, reciting one line in Arabic over and over to keep the Jinn away, the idea that there are “good” jinns too etc. I wish the movie had a more serious tone to it, and dealt with issues like black magic, evil eye, Quran, imam, mosques etc. Instead, it was obvious that the makers of the movie didn’t want to offend any Muslims so stayed clear of anything that could incite any controversy.
I’ve seen scarier stuff than Jinn, and I can’t help but feel sad that Jinn could have been that one movie which would show the idea of Jinn in Middle Eastern/ Indian Subcontinent cultures. The potential was huge but this movie became a wasted opportunity.
And someone needs to tell me what is “Sheyateen!!”
1.5/5
Mansour Ahsan 
I saw the movie in dxb and loved it but i don’t recall scenes of uncle nor priest…wondering if another version was released to you? Was it not revolving around al hamra village and then al hamra towers where they go an live and the wife is haunted? The scenes where she’s doing namaz? Later he meets the abaya clad lady in the elevator? …what’s this about an uncle..what was uncle’s role and the priest’s?
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are referring to the movie Djinn(2013) ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1770672/?ref_=fn_al_tt_8) which is about an Emirati couple. That is completely different to the one I saw, which is Jinn (2014). (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1562899/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
LikeLike