The Tangle

Well this was a disappointment. I was expecting a good movie, the story seemed interesting, and to be honest it had a lot of potential, but the execution was really poor. I don't know what writer/director Christopher Soren Kelly was thinking whilst making this movie but it was for sure not going to be pleasant to watch for a lot of people. The dialogues are highly irritating, most of the time it's just gibberish, a language nobody "normal" speaks. I think he wanted to come over as fancy and innovative and it boomeranged right in his face. Because the plot was promising, I'm sure you could make a good sci-fi movie with that story, but it's just not The Tangle. The cast was also not very convincing in their roles. Again I'm sure they could do much better, but now it looked like they rehearsed their lines without understanding anything they're talking about. The moments of poetry were also very annoying to watch. The cinematography wasn't that great either. I'm searching to write anything good about this movie but beside a promising story I can't see anything. Don't waste your time with this one.

A man is shackled to a table and has a very quickfire interrogation by a man and a woman about an event in a park.

Then he's accused of a murder but a telephone call from someone that we don't know and don't hear brings a halt to the interrogation.

25 minutes later the man is now on a telephone repeating non-understandable prose like a modern day Denis Leary.

2 minutes after that I lose patience and turn this crap off.

I enjoyed watching Christopher Soren Kelly, in Infinity Chamber. And I do enjoy watching a good movie that makes me think. This movie did give that to me, to a point. And it had the potential to be a great movie. But it dropped the ball. And seem to make a couple of attempted to recover, but then it would shoot itself in the foot again.

First and foremost. There was too much explaining of what the tangle was and does. When it could have been covered by either a star wars style crawl text. Or a brief video lead up, of the creation and release of the tangle. Showing all the creators rejoicing over it. With a lead up like that, it could have helped show some of the emotional turmoil that Edward was going through. Instead we see Edward wiping something out of his eyes.

When it came to the acting, you either got the film version on a monotone. Or you get the equivalent of a drama queen. So over the top and unnecessary. With Christopher Soren Kelly and Jessica Graham, staring in a number of projects together. You would have expect a much better onscreen chemistry. But it felt similar to a 6th grade play. Where no one wanted to touch a person of the opposite sex.

It is not a completely horrible movie. But it is definitely a film that I will only watch once.

This film goes in my box of "What a shame" flicks-- movies that had great potential but the writer / director just blew it by one single but major flaw. In the case of this one, it was the very disappointing "hang in the air" ending. No spoilers, but it spoiled the movie for me.

To be clear: unlike a lot of reviewers, I didn't mind the "scripted, stilted" language. This is a movie set in the future. If there is anything history has shown us, language changes drastically over time. To expect them to speak the same manner in which we speak would be unrealistic. The problem however was the delivery: lines and phases spoken too quickly and without emotion, as if being read off a teleprompter. That's poor directing and acting both.

The story presents a very unique concept. How does one commit a murder in a world where absolutely every detail is recorded, every nanosecond of the day?

Contrary to some vapid claims here, this movie is nothing like The Matrix.. Viewers need to get used to the fact that there are going to be more and more movies about virtual reality... because that field of science is becoming less fictional. Not every movie about virtual worlds is a "rip off" of The Matrix. How many movies have been made about two people falling in love? Yet we still watch romance movies. The entire atmosphere of this movie is different: noir, most of it set in a single room, most of it relying on observation rather than special effects. It's different enough to be interesting... if one can keep up with the Tommy-gun dialog.

What this is... is a pretty decent murder mystery. Plot, mystery, clues, reasonable acting (especially by the primary suspect). What it doesn't have is a well-thought-out ending... and for that inexcusable blunder I give it 4 stars. There's little more that I hate in a movie that for it to string people along for the entire film, then drop the plot on their laps, leaving them to design their own conclusion. Makes one want to taser the director in the tenders, it does.

If someone wishes to watch this, I'd recommend doing so simply for the unusual style of the film. You'll possibly enjoy 99.5% of the film... right down to the last blundering minute. Then maybe not so much. That's the smack, Jack.

The premise looked interesting, but within the first 5 minutes I was annoyed by the dialogue and the pretentiousness of the acting. Within about 15 minutes I had solved the murder mystery. Then I got bored with the poetry that served no purpose in the plot and I fell asleep and woke up towards end, just in time for some more poetry and the revelation the the murder was indeed just as I had predicted 15 minutes in.

The three stars are for the idea and the acting of the guy who plays Carter. The rest of it is a big nope.

That said, my husband liked it, so like always, it comes down to taste.