m-sileo

It's shot with a lot of minimalism and a very cold tone, but it lacks depth and impact. The idea of an elite school with a teacher pushing "conscious eating" to the extreme could have been a sharp critique of crazy diets and cult mentalities, but it stays on the surface, with a slow pace and moments of dry humor that don't quite land.

Mia Wasikowska does a good job portraying that charismatic and manipulative figure, half empathetic, half cold, who gradually ensnares the students until they become physically and mentally weakened. The film also highlights the blind trust parents and the school place in strangers, an interesting theme that unfortunately ends up caricaturing all the characters, who aren't well developed.

In the end, it feels like the same idea repeated over and over-uncomfortable but without a clear message to support it. It falls short of being the satire it aims to be.

An interesting concept wasted on a generic action film, where not even the centuries of experience of its characters manage to give the script any personality. The action, which could have been its saving grace, is chopped up in a confusing and repetitive edit, with fight choreography that never really takes off. The villain is as forgettable as the motivations driving the plot. Charlize Theron does what she can, bringing presence and charisma, but even she seems bored of being immortal. A proposal that promised far more than it ultimately delivers. Two hours condensing the worst of Netflix.