I feel like I should be starting several of these reviews based on recent movies off with the notation that I was very much aware of the movie and had no intention of seeing it but watched it for this purpose only. I hate to give away the secret so early in my review but this movie was not great. But it’s not great to me. I will say that I’m not going to convince that it’s got a lot of redeeming qualities and that it’s just difficult for me, personally to give it a pass. I don’t think it does. I think it’s just a movie that somebody made and while I wholly appreciate all the efforts and energy that went into the film production, and those people should be nothing but proud of what they accomplished together, the end result for me was that I just did not care for it. I think that’s the thing many times I just feel bad about. The caveat is that I wasn’t going to be a tally mark in the win column to begin with for a movie like this. Had I been really excited to go see this one and was first in line on day one in the theater and walked out feeling what I did at the end of this movie, that would be a lot harder to take. A core audience member that you disappointed that bad is not a great look or feel for a movie on either end. As the viewer, you don’t want to be left feeling that way and as any part of the cast and crew who made the movie happen, you don’t want to let down your people like that. I’m not any part of that crowd. Would they have loved to convert me? Probably. But not getting me doesn’t say anything about the production in my estimation. Its like asking somebody who reads the New Yorker if they enjoyed last week’s NASCAR race. Sure, I’m being a bit reductionist and adhering to stereotypical archetypes for both of those fan bases. Does a possibility exist where somebody can definitively be a fan of both? Absolutely. Are there many? Not on your life. It’s a notably stark contrast in MOST instances. That’s why I apply it. If you’re a New Yorker staff member and you get a NASCAR fan to read are you excited? For sure. If you’re an executive with NASCAR and you find out one of your fans subscribes to the New Yorker, are you jazzed? Totes. Again, those are both assumptions. Either way, NASCAR traditionally isn’t for New Yorker subscribers and vice versa. I was never going to be the get for this fandom. And that’s ok in my book.
I do like to start with the positives of a movie and while there really aren’t a ton for me in this movie, I do have to commend the visuals of much of the movie. The way this was filmed was with a very keen eye. Many of the scenes were composed very distinctly and it was done so with a deftness of hand I did not anticipate. The imagery was very impressive and stylistically it was one of the best ways that tension was built throughout the film. Light and dark was thematically tied into the film and they did a good job utilizing those components to accentuate the notes they wanted to hit. Foreground and background were also tooled just right to really nail some particularly potent spots in the progression of the story. Not that it was never a thing of the past. John Carpenter loved using background space to really emotionally charge the audience. Giving them the information before a protagonist or a victim was about to interact with a malevolent force was an incredibly useful mechanism of drawing the audience in emotionally. But after decades of using this vehicle, it’s nice when that same feeling is achieved but it feels fresh. That’s something I think they really accomplished with the direction and cinematography of the filmmaking.
I’ll also give a fair amount of credibility to the music of the film. While I’m reluctant to label it something outstanding, I do feel like there was enough of an accent on several scenes where the music really brought the tension to life better than even the visuals. Simply stressing a scene with noise can give you an off putting sensation but it doesn’t marry well with what’s truly being attempted. When a score works in tandem with the visual representation on screen, that marriage coming together in the right ways at the right times can make a scene so much more exciting in all the right ways. Despite having little affinity for the characters in general, there were a number of scenes that I felt were truly enhanced by the melodic accompaniment of musical direction. Between the sharpness of some of the visual elements and the tenacity of the sound department, there were a number of times that this movie overcame things that would have otherwise been a considerable detriment. While I wish they would have all worked together in a more cohesive fashion, independently they still shone brightly at times and for that I do feel like it’s worthy of commendation.
Unfortunately that’s really where the positives end. The overall plot of the movie is a little flat for me. There’s a growing subgenre where I feel like horror is being used as this allegory for different kinds of mental health issues. While the graphic and extreme elements of the horror genre as a whole can be useful in highlighting the distinctly intense notations of grief and anger of all forms and fashions, I do feel like it works a lot better when it’s a little more direct or at least it’s applied with a measure more gracefully than this film was able to come by in the end. Spoiler alert, for real, the woman in the yard represents the loss and grief felt via the sting of a depressive state after the loss of the main character’s husband in a car accident. The problem is that her character is particularly unlikable throughout most of the film so I have a hard time caring about what she feels. I’m relatively certain I’m supposed to be some form of sympathetic to her but even in excusing some of her outbursts towards her children as the weight of stress present in her life, the backstory makes her an even more reprehensible protagonist that I’m not inclined to want to show patience or care towards. I mostly feel bad for her kids. Even in the open ended nature of the conclusion of the film, I’m not entirely sure she didn’t give into her depression and end her life with what’s playing out on screen is some fantasy of a happy ending that never was. If the message is ambiguous in the least as to whether suicide was the right motivation for a single mother of two after the loss of her husband and their father, the answer is to get help, not give in. So I would have preferred a happy ending in the form of confirming she was going to do the right thing by her children. Not leave it open ended that she took a cowardly and selfish way out, believing that ending her pain was paramount to the lasting impression of losing both their parents to tragedy in short succession.
Additional to the overall story of the film, the acting was mostly tepid at best. I don’t fault the children actors all that much. They’re children. They can only do so much. Balancing as much of the weight of the plot on her oldest son was the choice of the filmmakers, both writer and director. That wasn’t a great plan. The actor they chose seemed relatively capable but the performance was nothing spectacular. Again, I don’t fault him, that was too much responsibility for a child actor, especially one that was not ready to handle that much emphasis without enough preparation. The other child actress had a much lesser role and handled her responsibilities well enough. That comes down to the other three adult actors. Dad had a small role, mostly in flashbacks and dream sequences. He wasn’t anything to write home about but he wasn’t on screen enough to make an impact either. The woman in the yard was ok. Her role was hefty enough but her screen time was also relatively low so she wasn’t carrying a great deal either. She was made up well to hit the creepy nail on the head plenty though. So she was cast well and played her part in that respect quite well. So most of it I put on the mom. She just didn’t do much. Her part was an uphill battle though. Her story goes from bad to worse the more you dig into it. She never really hits any kind of emotional note that gives you much of even a moment to align with her. And I don’t think it was just that she was never going to be relatable. I think that’s the demand of her position. We’re supposed to have a serious measure of sympathy for her. But she’s not a good mom. Yes she’s dealing with a lot. I get that. Welcome to parenthood. I’m not sure why you think you’re special. Trust me, lots of people are going through plenty every day. What doesn’t do her any additional favors is finding out that in her back story, spoiler alert again, she’s just kind of a shitty person. She’s selfish and already wants to ditch out on her responsibilities as a parent because she’s not having fun. Suck it up, buttercup. This was a huge turn off for me. I was never in her camp from her portrayal of mom from the beginning of the movie. I tried to give her some credibility that things were tremendously difficult and it would take a lot from me were I in her same position. Again, when things are revealed like the she wanted a divorce because she wasn’t fulfilled enough and she lied to her kids about being the one driving the car the night their dad died, those don’t lend her a lot of credibility. So in the end, when vagueness of whether or not she overcame things and hung in there for her kids hangs in the balance, I don’t enjoy a twisty kind of ending where it might be the flip of a coin as to whether or not these kids are orphans. It’s not thought provoking or interesting. It’s angering. And on top of that, I was tired of caring about all of this by that point anyways. So it just didn’t work at all in the end.
I feel like a 3.0 is where I’m going to land on this one. It’s a fail for sure. I didn’t like it. I’m not going to like it. It can’t be explained a particular way and I will like it. It’s not good. There’s almost nothing that’s even remotely interesting about any element of the plot. The twist that it’s her grief or depression or whatever mental health issue they want to pin on her is not artistic or thought provoking in the end. Where The Babadook really took on the heft of loss of a spouse, despite a ridiculously annoying child, this movie can’t overcome anything similarly. Plus it wasn’t anywhere as spooky. So when you have another movie that comparatively did the same kind of story but did it so much better, it really puts into perspective how crap this movie is in the end. I don’t know who this movie was for but I hope they had fun with it because I don’t think many people did in the end. It’s fine. It’s a movie that exists and some people made money doing work. I applaud that. I enjoy that the machine churns out good movies and bad movies sometimes. I hope this one found or finds it’s audience and they have a blast with it because I could not wait for it to be over and it was a tough one to get through in the end. So if you get the chance to see this one, you probably just shouldn’t. If you wanted to see it, you already did and odds are you were disappointed after it was done. If you liked it then I’m very happy for you and I wish I could have reached that same level. It just wasn’t for me and it never was going to be. And that’s ok. So I’ll go sit out in the yard with the woman and not watch this movie ever again and we’ll all be fine with that. Until I come in from the yard to watch my next flick, I’ll catch you on the flip side.
