While I did feel this had a good story to tell and interesting perspective, it missed the mark. The characters were not developed enough for us to care about them. A huge mistake that many screenwriters make. Let us like or hate the characters but tell us something about them. The director or script had the characters do and say things that the character would not do or say in that particular scene. When Liza and Jay are in the pub after the roads get closed, she goes out to his truck and immediately goes into his pack to get his address from letters there. How did she know these were there or that there was a pack in the first place? No shot of the pack was shown to the audience to establish this fact. Is she clairvoyant? Then the little girl in the cabin scene with Addison when he kills the stepfather and saves the mother and kids, says something that appeared to be out of left field and once again, made no sense. This went on and on during the movie. Liza and Jay are just getting to know each other in the truck and the pub when all or a sudden he is dancing with her and falling in love. Not in real life anyway. I can understand that a guy just out of prison would want to sleep with the girl as soon as possible but next morning when he see's her about to get into the semi truck of another guy, he runs out half naked to stop her and pledges his affection. Once again, Really, makes no sense for his character. He would have pulled on his clothes and driven away happy to had had the night he had.
The set decoration was an issue as well to me. Having been a Set Decorator in movies I pay attention to this stuff. In the motel attached to the little backwoods pub there are stylish grey sheets on the bed. Are you kidding? What backwoods motel owner is going to splash out on expensive sheets for the rental rooms when cheap white will suffice. The pub also had a stage area for bands and during the day scene there was instruments on stage as if there was a band there. Really? During the day when the roads have been closed due to the storm, a band is going to be working there? No band was established or heard, and no pub owner is going to buy instruments on spec just in case someone with a musical bent just happens by. This kind of mistake just takes away from the story for me and I miss what's going on as I am now annoyed at the Director or Decorator for these glaring errors.
There was a missing scene at the end of the movie that was required to wrap thing up. The movie ended without doing this wrap up and we are left to ask what happened. Did Hanna become an FBI agent or stay in Minnesota as a County Sheriff. A final hospital scene where her father, Sheriff Becker thanks her and says she will make a great FBI Agent would go a long way to finishing things up.
All in all it was not a bad movie and not a complete waste of time but it could have been a great movie if more time was spent on development and attention to detail.
One other thing that confuses me is the listing of actors credits on IMDb. Why was Kate Mara listed waaaay down in amongst the one-line cast when she was so much more then a single line actor in this picture?
The set decoration was an issue as well to me. Having been a Set Decorator in movies I pay attention to this stuff. In the motel attached to the little backwoods pub there are stylish grey sheets on the bed. Are you kidding? What backwoods motel owner is going to splash out on expensive sheets for the rental rooms when cheap white will suffice. The pub also had a stage area for bands and during the day scene there was instruments on stage as if there was a band there. Really? During the day when the roads have been closed due to the storm, a band is going to be working there? No band was established or heard, and no pub owner is going to buy instruments on spec just in case someone with a musical bent just happens by. This kind of mistake just takes away from the story for me and I miss what's going on as I am now annoyed at the Director or Decorator for these glaring errors.
There was a missing scene at the end of the movie that was required to wrap thing up. The movie ended without doing this wrap up and we are left to ask what happened. Did Hanna become an FBI agent or stay in Minnesota as a County Sheriff. A final hospital scene where her father, Sheriff Becker thanks her and says she will make a great FBI Agent would go a long way to finishing things up.
All in all it was not a bad movie and not a complete waste of time but it could have been a great movie if more time was spent on development and attention to detail.
One other thing that confuses me is the listing of actors credits on IMDb. Why was Kate Mara listed waaaay down in amongst the one-line cast when she was so much more then a single line actor in this picture?