Return to Sender: Das falsche Opfer

Return to Sender is a rather predictable crime drama. It took me less than half the film to figure out what was happening and what the outcome would be.

Sadly the script is well worn revenge fare that falls short of the mark. For me, this film would have had far more impact had it walked a gentler path of reconciliation and redemption. Of course, this would have meant painting the villain of the piece in a more positive light but that was not to be.

That's not to say this is a poor film. Rosamund Pike does a reasonable job in the lead role. I was surprised to see Nick Nolte. I thought he might have retired. I'm glad he's still acting and for me, his performance was the highlight of this film.

All in all, Return to Sender is watchable but I really can not find any firm foundation on which to recommend it. Five out of ten from me.

Return to Sender is a thriller starring Rosamund Pike fresh off her role in Gone Girl which earned her an Oscar nomination. Now although she didn't put in a bad performance in this film, she wont be getting any nominations for this. The plot of this movie was just a complete mess, it kind of had a purpose for the first 15 minutes and looked like it could be a promising film but for the entire rest of the film i had no idea what was happening or why it was happening. Everything about the film just felt very weird and you couldn't like Rosamund Pike's character because of the ridiculously dumb decisions she makes for reasons that you don't understand. Just thinking back on the film there was zero character development for anyone at all for the majority of the film, it is just a series of events that seem to happen then the film moves on to another irrelevant scene and it keeps on doing this until you are bored out of your mind.

The film also decides to take a very odd turn in the last act just out of nowhere. All of a sudden the film decides to throw a curveball with absolutely no setup and no foreshadowing that it just seems very out of character. The terrible writing of the plot and characters really let the film down, you cannot get behind any of the characters and everything just seems ridiculous. In the end The directing wasn't bad and was shot pretty well and Rosamund Pike did her best to use her acting talents to try and save the film but it just wasn't enough to save this messy bore-fest. - 3.9

I like Rosamund Pike. She is intelligent, good-looking and sexy, and an excellent actress. The problem is, however, we are always aware that she is acting and she never gets into character. All her film personas have zero character development. Meryl Streep, on the other hand, submerges herself completely into the character she is playing, and you have no sense at all that she is acting; she IS the character. Rosamund cannot do that; for all her talent, she seems to refuse to surrender herself to any character of any film. She is always Rosamund Pike. She is a lot like John Wayne in that regard. It really didn't matter what role John Wayne was playing; he was always John Wayne. Rosamund Pike is the female version of John Wayne. This film was trite and a waste of time, but I really do hope to see her capture a character some day; like Charlize Theron in Monster or Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth.

Return to Sender did have some potential, a subject that is hard-hitting and easy to relate to and Rosamund Pike and Nick Nolte are watchable in a lot of their work. Return to Sender has some decent assets, but overall is pretty messy and like a missed opportunity.

Pike is nowhere near as good as her deservedly Oscar-nominated performance in Gone Girl (a far superior film, no matter how polarising it is, and Amy is much more interestingly written than Miranda), but she still plays the role with charisma and an appropriate iciness. Shiloh Fernandez has his unsure moments but mostly suitably sleazy, but the film's best performance comes from Nick Nolte, whose sympathetic performance gives a glimmer of emotional backbone and his character is the one character and asset that is halfway credible. Return to Sender is reasonably well-filmed too and fits the atmosphere well with some nice shots.

The rest of the cast reads of acting like wooden marionettes, and none of the characters are fleshed out are often underwritten. Apart from some of the camera work, the production values are generally too TV-film quality and the direction is lazy and confused, showing a lot of inexperience in the genre, a lack of suspense and a lack of ability to make the narrative cohesive. The script is illogical, predictable and completely lacking in realism, the way it flows and is delivered also never feels natural. The story is all over the place and doesn't know what it wants to be, it does agreed feel like three different films and it does little with the second and third acts, the first act actually does have a little tension and some genuine sympathy for Miranda.

However, the character study second act has some far too pedestrian and lazy pacing, far too wooden and underdeveloped characterisation (with the exception of Nolte) and emotional impact is minimal (only provided by Nolte). And the third revenge act is sorely devoid of tension or suspense, increasing predictability to the extent that you're exclaiming 'we knew it!' and suffers from Miranda's actions not being believable for a second. The ending is very rushed and even the open feel felt abrupt and under-explained, it is also rather brutal and any sympathy felt for Miranda in the first act is completely diminished here.

Overall, messy (with the biggest offender being the story) and a missed opportunity, with its moments (the performances of Pike, Nolte and Fernandez, some nice shots and a decent first act). 4/10 Bethany Cox

While this movie had a huge amount of potential it ended up being a "WTH" kinda' watch. The movie starts off and for a second I forgot the movie was a thriller since it had a bit of a comedic start. It's slow and then I think I missed something, and then the climax happened. I was re- intrigued!! But touch me in the morning and walk away but I must have missed something......again. I'm a committer so I couldn't bring myself to turn it off for hopes it would re-intrigue me and what do you know it did. But touch me twice and walk away twice..........the ending SUCKS a big-timer! I implore you to join my misery and watch the movie anyway. Feel my pain and understand my dis-in-trigue!!