Michael's Movie Grade: B-
I had high expectations for this movie. While it is definitely a good film, it still did not fully reach those expectations.
For those of you unaware of this movie's premise (it was based off a Steven King book and a 1987 film adaptation of the book) a man who has been blacklisted and can't get a job, finds nowhere to turn but a game show where a man is hunted by people wanting to kill him for 30 days. This premise seems like a perfect fit for director/co-writer Edgar Wright, whose fortes are action and satire. He mostly succeeds but strangely the film feels too restrained, lacking Wright's usual touch.
There is a lot to really like about this film. Glen Powell is fantastic in the main role, giving a real charismatic charm to the main character here. He is both a lot of fun to watch and this role and quite likable. Though the visuals never fully utilize the sci-fi setting (in the way you think Wright would), this is a consistently handsome looking movie. The action scenes are excellent, being a lot of fun and very exciting. For the most part this movie does a good job of mixing its political and social commentary in with mainstream entertainment (though a couple scenes can be too on the nose and preachy). There are some moments of genuinely good commentary.
Oddly for an Edgar Wright film, a lot of the comedy simply falls flat. Despite seeing this in a theater with an audience no one laughed at even one of the comedic moments. These comedic moments felt oddly restrained and often times quite forced. The main problem with this movie though is in a very messy last act, which is full of contrivances that don't make much logical sense and seem to exist only so the movie can reach the desired ending. This desired ending is nowhere near as satisfying as it should be, due to it not feeling earned.
There is a lot to like about this film, yet it never lives up to its true potential.
No comments:
Post a Comment