Highly Overrated But Still Good

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

I am a Rutger Hauer fan, so when I saw this movie on Netflix, I had it delivered. I was very pleased with the movie. Rutger Hauer delivers a great performance, as usual.I do not usually care too much for love scenes. But, the few they had in this movie were great. I chalk that up to the fact that they involved Rutger Hauer.I had figured out the killer early on but didn't know what the motive was. The motive took me by surprise. Even though I was sure of who the killer was, the movie was able to keep me in suspense and had me wondering if I was right.I thought that the story line was good. There were just the right number of twists and turns. I was very interested in the characters and what was happening with them.I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a lot of the writing was done by Quentin Tarantino. It isn't like Kill Bill or any of the others that have massive violence and blood. I am not a fan of Kill Bill, so the fact that this was very different than that was a bonus.I was getting worried near the end of the movie that it might not end correctly. I am very particular about movie story lines and endings. Most of the time I am not a fan of unhappy endings, not am I a fan of movies that leave you hanging with a bunch of unanswered questions. This wrapped everything up pretty neatly.I do not know why so many people gave this movie such low ratings. I think that it is very well done and most definitely worth watching.

By odd coincidence we watched "Past Midnight" right after "Twilight". Both films have much in common. In 2009's Twilight, Kristen Stewart seeks romance with vampire-nice-guy, and in this one Natasha Richardson seeks love with convicted-and-released murderer Rutger Hauer. Both movies were made by female film-makers, and each was filmed in rural Washington state. Either film will tell you what girls and women dream about: Prince Charming, NOT; rather a bad guy who they can make-over.Past Midnight is the better movie. Hauer may or may not be an innocent man framed; but Natasha falls for him well before she has any clue he might not have stabbed his pregnant wife in the gut with a butcher knife. More I need not tell you except Hauer comes across as a real man, whether guilty or not he's to be reckoned with --- unlike the sissy style "vampire veg" guys in Twilight. Past Midnight delivers a good 90 minutes of entertainment.

If a film looks like a B movie and smells like a B movie then in my opinion it usually is a B movie but this film while definitely not an A movie it isn't far off being one. Ben Jordan(Rutger Hauer) is found guilty of stabbing his pregnant wife and spends 15 years in jail. The film begins when he is released from jail ,moves to a small town to start again and is assigned a social worker Laura Matthews (Natsha Richardson).the two form an unlikely friendship and become lovers.While everyone,including the towns chief of police, think he was guilty,Laura has her doubts and after a spot of investigation comes to the conclusion that he is actually innocent. Now we have probably sen this done before and no doubt better but the chemistry of the two main stars carries the film along nicely and the final scenes of the film are very gripping,almost edge of the seat stuff. After the "The hitcher" and "Blade runner" i would have liked Rutger Hauer to have been a bigger star in Hollywood but his career like that of Lou Diamond Philips,another actor I think should be a bigger star,seems to have been relegated to straight to video movies.. Natasha Richardson is a very pretty English actress that hasn't really been a movie trailblazer but she handles her role,including a quite steamy sex scene,very well and as I said her on screen chemistry with Rutger Hauer carries the film along nicely. Don't watch this film and expect any Oscar winning performances but if you want a neat compact thriller then with this film you can't go far wrong.Past Midnight i give a very commendable 8/10

Natasha Richardson is always fun to watch and I've also enjoyed Rutger Hauer also, so when this appeared on my cable the other day I was kind of curious. Since no one had written a comment on it, I decided to do so. It's a suspense film with a lot of suspects. I really don't want to comment at all on the plot, because to do so even in the least would constitute a spoiler. I only gave it a six, but perhaps if I were feeling generous I would have given it a seven. If you are a big fan of grade-B suspense then check this out. There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.