One has to imagine the book this is based on was better.
It feels like they tried to pull a David Fincher – a dark world setting, populated with obsessive characters who will ultimately unravel before our and/or eachother’s eyes – and failed: the arcs here are more predictable, the characters unlikeable. In the not-helping-things department is the fact that I personally find no appeal at all in Jim Sturgess – and it’s not like I can blame that on his movie choices alone: between this and the appalling Upside Down, he at least has Cloud Atlas. I dunno: maybe this story needs to be told again every few years, so that new generations can encounter it for the first time. I just feel like i’ve seen this before, better, repeatedly.
Further Viewing
See also: Now You See Me. My review, not the movie. Anything but that movie.
Related Posts:
Review: Widows (2018) Emotionally raw and stylishly shot, with beguiling choices of filmmaking and storytelling. A cast of outstanding actors, all giving interesting, surprising performances.
Review: Hell or High Water (2016) Big respect for making me care about a bunch of white men in Texas shooting eachother.
Review: Nightcrawler (2014) I still find him and the producer less gross than certain real-life American news outlets.
Review: Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Crappy "Seven" knock-off.
Review: The Departed (2006) Scorcese's The Wire: South Boston Nights
Film School: A Clockwork Jackie Brown (1997) This fan re-edit reveals the clockwork precision of Tarantino's film-making.
Review: Glass Onion (2022) Another meticulously-crafted, if wilder, Benoit Blanc caper.
Review: The Batman (2022) A hot mess.