allison-aa I've watched this movie three times and find it to be a quite extraordinary; an homage, with a twist, to Beauty and the Beast perhaps? Whilst I can understand the distaste of some reviewers for the subject matter it was, for me, both very well executed and engrossing and I thought that both leading characters played their respective roles very well. Reviewing a movie such as this is complicated. The fact that it elicited such visceral reactions is, in my view, a tribute to its success in deeply involving the viewer in the story-line. How one reacts to that involvement is, of course, a purely personal response; but shouldn't the review of a movie reflect the extent to which it involves its audience, for better or for worse rather than the subject matter?

roland-sinn Tattoo is very beautiful and stylish looking, as is Maud Adams. Below the cinematographic beauty is a core of exploitation.Maud Adams is not a great actress, but she and her breasts have wonderful personality which comes through on screen. Bruce Dern, a very good actor, lends gravity to his performance and does much more justice to the screenplay than it deserves.The story of Tattoo is pretty silly, the screenplay amateurish and many scenes are poorly executed. But despite it's many faults, I found Tattoo genuinely engrossing. The film is a visual delight and the music score meshes very nicely.Be warned that Tattoo is psychologically as well as physically exploitative so sensitives should steer clear, though really it's very mild compared with some more recent flicks.If you're a hetero guy, you'll love it. 6/10

Infofreak I love Bruce Dern! The guy has appeared in some of my all time favourite exploitation movies ('The Wild Angels', 'The Trip', 'Psych-Out', 'The Cycle Savages', 'Bloody Mama'), usually playing some kinda evil or deranged character. He does it so well that you can forgive many people thinking he must be a bad ass in real life, when apparently he's a straight living health freak who indulges in marathon running. Anyway, he makes 'Tattoo' into a fascinating viewing experience. It isn't the greatest movie ever made, in fact it's quite a mundane thriller for the most part, but Dern makes it compelling with an intense and yet subtle performance. He plays a very odd tattoo artist who becomes obsessed with Maddy, a bitchy model (Maud Adams, Bond girl and 'Rollerball'). Now Maud Adams isn't really my cup of tea but she sure looks good in the nude scenes, and anyway, this is Dern's movie all the way. Most people seem down on this one, but I can't see why. I will say that the bigger the Dern fan you are the more you will enjoy it. I enjoyed it a LOT!

carnivalofsouls I had high hopes "Tattoo" would be a minor gem. The ingredients were there - Bruce Dern doing what he does best: playing a psycho, the superb Leonard Frey has a minor role, a script is by a Bunuel and the plot concerns the rarely explored world of tattoos. Yet what we get is soft porn, bad acting and a ridiculously pretentious ending. Okay, so Dern is great as the masturbating, obsessive tattoo artist but the casting of Maud Adams as the object of his obsession is incredibly off. Looking like someone who just crawled out of an airbrush-laden mid-seventies Playboy issue, Adams is about as attractive as drying paint, but not quite as talented.The script is heavily misjudged also, constructed so we come to sympathize with Dern, yet halfway switches to having Adams the protagonist, which fails as attributed to her shallow and bitchy portrayal. And there is the film's major flaw, with no-one to sympathize with the film lacks the power and suspense it so desires. On the plus side it looks great, with wonderful cinematography which somehow even manages to evoke atmosphere from the proceedings on occasion. Also we get a cameo from a teenage Cynthia Nixon, Miranda from "Sex in the City", who impresses with what little screen time she has. "Tattoo" ends on a symbolic note which some may find profound, but most will see it for what it really is - turgid and pointless.Rent "Magic" or "The Collector" instead.One and a half out of four.