shine67

While browsing the streaming platforms last night, everything was either too commercial or too familiar, so I finally just gave up, sat down with a glass of soda, and watched "Normal". This movie was so disenchanting that by the time the end credits rolled around, I realized I'd finished the entire two liter bottle, not because I was thirsty, but only because I needed to get up and walk to the kitchen for some caffeine at the risk of otherwise dozing off.

This movie is an unremarkable look at a murderer. Part soporific hackwork on killing and deception, part Wiseauian daydream about the gloomy feels. It goes in some bland and uninspired ways, and I found myself sinking deeper into my couch from the sheer boredom. Instead of being called "Normal", the movie should just be called "Irrationally Dull", surely standing out as one of the most derivative and unexceptionally static cheap films I've watched in quite a while. It's a cramped and misty piece of dreck that attacked and killed too many of my brain cells.

Richard Griffin doesn't really take the movie anywhere; it's all one note. Just like Wood was seemingly unaware of the problems in his work, this movie delivered slack scene after slack scene. His directing was flat and unpolished, and the contrived pacing creates a really artificial movie.

Michael Reed does some dull work, yet still overshadows the other unskilled actors who never make it seem like we're in anything more than some odd, incomprehensible setting. A quick IMDb look at Reed's other films after this, like the "Chupacabra Territory" and "Subferatu", show how his acting aligns with these types of 3-star, sub-par films.

Leonard Schwartz's script was tame and inept, and the cinematography is like film noir without the artistic depth, mixing vulgar color with dreary darkness to create an ambiance that tires as much as it upsets.

Check this out only if you really hate yourself. Movies like "Normal" are truly a dime-a-dozen pieces of pretentious hogwash that think they're saying something unique and important, and trying to convince you that you're just not getting it because you're not trying hard enough. If there's some significant point to this movie that the viewer really has to "work hard to find", the movie has failed at delivering its message.

I like Daisy Ridley a lot, and I think she does her best to carry the film, but I just found myself rolling my eyes far too often to enjoy this mess.

I can only suspend disbelief to a certain point, and above every other problem is this... How does everything in the first half of the film happen EXACTLY where the one window cleaner happens to be. This is a four-sided skyscraper!!! Also, people have regular conversations through the glass, one canister of gas in a hallway is enough to knock out everyone on every floor, people travel multiple floors in no time at all, SOOOO many clichès, etc. And as much as I rooted for Daisy to win, it's hard to feel sorry for the hostages.

There was some fun action, though nothing outstanding, and it was capably directed in a way that was very easy to follow. Also, I really enjoyed Matthew Tuck as her brother. Could've been a very annoying character, but he grounded it enough for me.

Watching this with my husband right now. He has said halk the dialogue before the characters do. THAT'S how obvious and predictable this movie is.

And if I see one more person draw a loaded crossbow out from under their suit jacket, I'm going to go off!

AND the older son wants to sail around the world as an adventure, but whines the whole time while he's on an adventure. Perhaps that's supposed to be read as irony, but it's just unbelievable character writing.

ALSO the youngr son has a phone that he souped-up that can do whatever they need it to.

There's much, MUCH, more wrong with this film. What a waste of time. It MIGHT have been enjoyable if it was campy like National Treasure or actually thrilling like a Raiders of the Lost Ark knock-off (it doesn't even reach that low bar, even with one son saying, "I hate snakes," at one point). As it is... just stupid trash.