Wonderful Movie

Fantastic!

An Exercise In Nonsense

A Disappointing Continuation

Nice colors and Owen Campbell is lovely, but it's clear that they got rid of whoever was smart enough to write the beginning of the movie, and the rest was written by a committee of hacks. You can just hear it: "we can't have a heretofore decent character turn into a psycho are start hacking people up halfway thru the picture!" "You wanna bet?" It really pisses you off - this is my time being so pissed I wrote a review. It feels like good people worked hard but the result is unwatchable.

It's been awhile since I've seen a movie that started off quite promisingly only to go so absurdly off-the-rails. It's certainly a well-directed film with a strong grasp on tone and boasts a number of striking visuals and a haunting score. The first act was especially strong and, despite its dark content, evoked a sense of realism. Sadly, this is a quality that the film seemed to progressively lose with each passing minute, ultimately stumbling into a third act that felt completely forced and even nonsensical. The key character arc of the film just didn't work, plain and simple. His character wasn't established or developed enough to justify his actions and the result was a finale that felt hollow and exploitative. The movie takes itself incredibly seriously and for awhile it seems like it may justify that seriousness with something of substance. Instead, the effect is akin to a teen with a joint in his mouth saying "whoa man, super dark times. like, super dark." It's hard to even look at the title of the film without smirking now. Wish I could give it a higher score for its undeniable strengths, but alas that third act casts too dark a shadow. At the very least I can see this director going on to do some cool things, especially if he can get his hands on a better script.Strong 2/5

What a great film! The story just keeps building, the suspense keeps you on the edge of your seat, the acting is first rate. If you just want to be entertained and enjoy a good disturbing film, then this is one you definitely should watch. Ignore the armchair analysts and dime store critics and just sit back, relax (if you can, what with the nail biting tale) and just watch this movie. You can do much worse!

I don't feel like I can say much about this without spoiling it, so I'll just say that while it's well made I definitely didn't 'enjoy' it and I'm not even sure I'm glad I watched it. The main character is hard to like much or root for and as for the plot, well, let's just say the film's title is accurate. Don't go in expecting a horror (it's not scary and there's no joy to be found in any of the violence). It's more a coming of age film by way of something like Irreversible (though not quite that dark). I've definitely never seen anything quite like this, but nor am I in any hurry to see anything like it again.