Endure

I see lots of bad movies--usually with an understanding shrug and some appreciation of the difficulties involved in making the film. There are very few films that actually make me angry, but the script and direction of "Endure" were infuriating.

A pregnant girl is chained to a tree by a serial killer, and if the detectives don't find her quickly, she is going to die an agonizing death. And so, you would expect the director to create a sense of urgency. Hurry up and find her before it's too late! But there is no sense of urgency at all. A totally unnecessary subplot involving one detective's seriously ill wife slows the action down to a crawl. When he isn't by her bedside holding hands and exchanging "I love you's" and listening to her complaints, he's answering his cell phone with continual updates on her condition. And when he's sitting by her bedside engaged in these slow sad conversations, there is nary a thought of the pregnant girl out there tied to a tree. The plot is further chained by constant adolescent banter between the veteran detective and the rookie who resents being talked to as a newbie. On and on and on. Frequent flashes to suffering girl, hanging nearly comatose from tree; return to extended scenes with sick wife and boring banter, the detectives in no apparent hurry to do their job. And yet, still I watched, onward and onward, slogging through the cinematic tedium, hoping that these boring and seemingly uncaring slugs would finally get moving and show some signs of urgency about rescuing the poor pregnant girl....Ugh!

I don't know what the other reviewers saw - but I was blown away by the movie particularly the performances by Judd Nelson and Joey Lauren Adams. The rest of the cast were just going through the motions but every scene these 2 were in was mesmerizing. Main story is a girl is brutally kidnapped and left in the woods, her kidnapper dies in a car accident and a photo of the girl is discovered in the car wreck. Meanwhile a seasoned detective who is put on the case has his own story - his wife is dying. Also he gets a new partner - a college kid still wet behind the ears.

I loved the script -especially the scene at the end where Judd Nelson visits the girl they saved and his partner in hospital and then walks past the newborn babies in the hall. Brilliantly filmed, brilliant scene - definitely worth watching again just for Judd Nelsons acting and the final scene. Where has Judd Nelson been hiding?

Whoever edited the amount of music that literally overtakes, pervades and cheapens this movie was either drunk or let his lesser brain/minion? fill each and every moment of this otherwise ok film. Whomever wrote and performed the music itself did a nice job. But we actually need music sometimes guys, sometimes much less is WAY more.

So i liked this movie a lot. The opening scene gets you interested right away and the movie moves fast enough to entertain but does not rush the story. There are some little side stories about characters that pull on the heart strings. Over all i really liked the movie.

My only issue with the movie is with some of the dialogue between the characters. There is a scene where one of the leads in sitting on the bed with his wife and they are talking. The entire scene seemed forced and not real at all. There are also a few other scenes where the two leads are exchanging sarcastic blows to each other where it seemed really forced.

I think the older lead was trying to hard at times, but later in the movie the acting leveled out and was fine.

Watch this movie!

The acting was great in this film. Unfortunately the music was inappropriate at times and actually hindered the mood. The raging electric guitar during a poignant scene in the hospital was particularly jarring! Just showing how very important music is to the film and likely why so many ratings are low.