Metacritic-Rezensionen

A thriller that starts solidly enough and picks up steam before blowing the doors off with an outstanding ending, Magpie is one of those rare films that feels both fresh and alive while building off classic genre works of the past.

This is a wonderfully messy genre flick that takes pleasure in offering the kind of startling revelations mixed with sharp barbs that will make many clap deliriously while leaving some wanting more answers.

Magpie turns certain tropes into narrative weapons, and it works at every turn, culminating in a finale that will leave you wanting more even as it gives us a tension-fueled conclusion.

There are a couple of not-quite holes exactly, but slightly threadbare patches. More importantly, the narrative isn’t really the point; this is first and foremost a tense portrait of a toxic relationship, and a brutally compelling one at that.

There’s nothing especially revelatory about the scenes where Anette sits in the country home that now feels more like a prison, wondering how her life got to the point . . . But her response to said feminine mystique is demented enough to make this a wild and satisfying ride.

In its style, “Magpie” is a marital thriller with noir trappings galore, including an almost ridiculously convoluted (yet satisfying) conclusion. Still, it’s most effective as the study of an angry wife’s chaotic psychological state.

The first-time director, Sam Yates, working from a utilitarian script by Tom Bateman, slathers on mood, yet there’s a primitive charge to the film’s no-frills staging.

A lean, mean revenge thriller that knows exactly what it’s about, Magpie has little originality but an invigorating clarity of purpose.

Working from her own story idea, producer Daisy Ridley shines in Magpie, an adultery thriller that’s a little too cool and calculated to truly ruffle viewers’ psychic feathers.

Despite a juicy hook built on heated emotions and drastic actions, Magpie proves too cold and ultimately too timid to spark much of a reaction.