Michael's Movie Grade: B
A good but flawed thriller.
In this film, a man who is falsely accused of a crime gets out after spending 7 years in solitary confinement. However, he comes out very mentally unstable and his wife and son find themselves in danger.
This is a very well-made thriller. Director/writer Nate Parker has a great talent for creating masterful suspense scenes. These scenes are perfectly shot and paced. The filmmakers get the maximum amount of tension that they possibly can out any of these scenes. Meanwhile the film offers up many smart and clever twists that keep us guessing what will happen next. David Oyelowo's great performance truly glues us to the screen giving us a real emotional connection. The nightmare sequences are shocking and disturbing to watch in the best way.
However, the movie definitely has it flaws. It is so trapped in genre conventions (even greatly resembling Kubrick's The Shining (1980) at many points) that it never truly explores the deeper themes it brings up. Because of this the film doesn't say much at all. The ending is also very flawed, feeling too convenient for a film like this.
This is a well-made and intense movie, but it is kept from being a great film by its reluctance to truly explore its deeper themes.
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