Return to Sender: Das falsche Opfer

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

Slow paced and disconnected in parts. Poor sound on prison scenes was quite annoying.

Miranda Wells, a beautiful young Nurse from a small town is invited on a blind date with a tall, dark and handsome chap 'Kevin.' Miranda has definite issues with pens and a few other quirks. When a guy turns up to meet her, she assumes he's Kevin, but events go tragically wrong, later the real Kevin turns up.

There are some definite pacing issues, it is so slow in parts, dare I say it becomes a little boring. Some scenes are so slow and overdone this movie could be edited and shown in less then an hour. The movie itself is quite hard to follow, there are times when I didn't know what was going on. It's a little telegraphed at times, you kinda know what she's all about.

Definitely issues with her dad's dog, but why did she do what she did, I appreciate it was a pretty dress, she never forgave it for that. I think that showed us her capacity for slow and definite revenge.

I love Rosamund Pike, she showed in Gone Girl just how good she is, but here she's just a bit flat and makes Miranda uninteresting, thank goodness for Nick Nolte, he added a bit of spirit and warmth to the film that was otherwise lacking.

When she performs a tracheotomy in the restaurant she got a round of applause? Would that truly happen?

I can't make out if I thought the ending was good or terrible, it was certainly a switch in tempo.

How many hairstyles did she have in this film? Every scene she looked like she'd been re-styled.

Considering the matter this film deals with I would have thought it would have left me sad or angry, but it left me a bit cold.

Some good elements, just a bit of a let down. 5/10

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 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.