Movie Review: Primetime

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C

A well-acted and stylistic but ultimately empty thriller. 

This film follows journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) as he tracks down a high-profile pedophile for Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator.

The most impressive part of this movie (and the main reason to watch) is the cast. The entire cast is fantastic here. Robert Pattinson is the lead credit here and he is great as always. In recent years he has truly proved himself to be a great acting talent. This can be seen to its fullest extent here. He is simply magnetic in this main role. He at once seems powerful and a force of nature as well as deeply human and venerable. Neither of these seem in contrast with each other and this is mostly because of Pattinson's performance. Skyler Gisondo comes close to matching Pattinson. He is truly wonderful as the decoy that is meant to lure in the pedophiles. He perfectly captures the vulnerability of the character, the need to prove himself and the desire to be somebody. Through all this he is simply incredibly compelling to watch. This film is also quite visually striking. The use of lighting and colors perfectly capture the look of early 2000's reality TV. It looks like something that was shot on a portable camera on the spot, which subtly makes the film feel more authentic.

The problem with this movie, however, is that it doesn't really have a point to it. For a film that takes us into such dark and uncomfortable subject matter, it doesn't really have anything to say. The filmmakers touch on certain themes but never delve deeply enough into any of them to say anything beyond surface level. As I left this movie, I was shocked that something that touched on such dark and serious subject matter gave me no real strong emotional reaction. Rather than feel disturbed, angry or emotionally drained, I just simply thought about how well acted and shot it was. 

There is a lot to appreciate about this movie, but it simply is lacking any real substance.