I don't quite think that this movie deserves its current rating of a 4.2 or all of the scathing reviews. It was not without issue, but there was a lot that was really quite positive about it.
The aesthetics and general picture were impressively beautiful, eerie and atmospheric throughout the entire film. Stylistically, the shots were quite cool and eye-catching, doing some seemingly innovative and definitely interesting things that I personally have not seen some of before. There were some gnarly effects and cool concepts. I will say it wasn't super scary, but when the spook hit, it hit. All in all, visually, it was a pleasure to watch.
The story, while certainly teetering the line between intricate and convoluted, was full of really interesting details, twists and turns. However, a lot of the good substantial intrigue was slightly squandered due to poor pacing.
I think the number one biggest issue with this film was its run time. Because this is the type of film that stylistically has an action/happening that may be confusing or raise questions and THEN the background/motive is explained later, it creates a constant back-and-forth between questioning what is going on and then having it explained to you. This works for a lot of films and keeps you on your toes and engaged.
However, Because of the pacing and this movies long run time, we are left hanging for quite awhile and don't really get any solid explanation or grasp of the actual story until over half way through. I think with a shorter run time and a bit more of a concise plot this would have had a much better reception and would have fixed many of its problems. The mediocre script and relatively bland characters didn't help either, but the acting was generally successful.
It appears I liked this movie more than the general public and was maybe a bit more forgiving of some of its short comings. I did see a lot of potential here and even taking it as is, it was still entertaining at the end of the day. 5.5 rounding up to a 6. Would recommend.
The aesthetics and general picture were impressively beautiful, eerie and atmospheric throughout the entire film. Stylistically, the shots were quite cool and eye-catching, doing some seemingly innovative and definitely interesting things that I personally have not seen some of before. There were some gnarly effects and cool concepts. I will say it wasn't super scary, but when the spook hit, it hit. All in all, visually, it was a pleasure to watch.
The story, while certainly teetering the line between intricate and convoluted, was full of really interesting details, twists and turns. However, a lot of the good substantial intrigue was slightly squandered due to poor pacing.
I think the number one biggest issue with this film was its run time. Because this is the type of film that stylistically has an action/happening that may be confusing or raise questions and THEN the background/motive is explained later, it creates a constant back-and-forth between questioning what is going on and then having it explained to you. This works for a lot of films and keeps you on your toes and engaged.
However, Because of the pacing and this movies long run time, we are left hanging for quite awhile and don't really get any solid explanation or grasp of the actual story until over half way through. I think with a shorter run time and a bit more of a concise plot this would have had a much better reception and would have fixed many of its problems. The mediocre script and relatively bland characters didn't help either, but the acting was generally successful.
It appears I liked this movie more than the general public and was maybe a bit more forgiving of some of its short comings. I did see a lot of potential here and even taking it as is, it was still entertaining at the end of the day. 5.5 rounding up to a 6. Would recommend.