El muro negro

Warning: Brief bright light flashing, a little gore

The trailer had me curious as it seemed thrilling but the movie didn't deliver it. The actors were overall fine nothing praise worthy. The dub isn't so bad either... but how the plot unraveled was just a let down add to that the blurring zooming in out they keep doing just made me dizzy.

They could've done more with the Escape room concept if they actually created an atmosphere of suffocation but they were all barely stuck there. They didn't mention it but it just felt like only 1 day has passed? Maybe 2 days if I'm being generous. That's just not enough to create that sense of dread of "I want to get out! We're all going to die here! We have no food!" crazy moment. Now instead of a thriller of humanity going on survival mode it's just a mystery. So you're basically just watching them solve the puzzle and that's it...which isn't that good anyway because by the end it's just a sense of coincidence the right characters were there at the same time and not actual smart play on solving. I guess if you just like watching them literally just "solve" how to get out then it's a tolerable watch but overall not really something I'd recommend over other movies.

Brick is the ultimate grandmother of all bad movies ever made. So bad you can hardly believe it. Incredibly lame with a stupid story that leads nowhere. Who writes this stuff? Who at Netflix thinks, "hey this sound really cool. How much money do you need? I mean, we are Netflix, we swim in money." The entire 2nd act, (if one can call it that) is so painfully boring. Every character is undeveloped, has no goal and is totally unappealing. What a waist of time. The director (also the author) behind this drama has no idea how to build suspense. Do you see any fear, sweat, tears or anger in the characters? No. The whole thing was probably shot on some soundstage in Eastern Europe (because it was cheap). Just an embarrassing movie.

I was worried this movie would not pay off, would end ambiguously with too much character drama. Good news! It does end, and explanation is given. This is not one of those movies (like The Divide 2011, or Cube 1997) that doesn't bother explaining what happened. Maybe audiences LIKE being left hanging - I don't! I'm watching this scifi "high concept" for answers! You don't have a murder mystery then never reveal the murderer!

Yes, you'll put up with some drama - some of it drags, but there IS a payoff in explanation. YES, there will be some dangling strings, but in the end you're given a satisfying enough explanation for their plight.

Quick note to other reviewers - many of you have your math very wrong for the discovering the code. He uses flour to determine the four numbers used to activate the code. In statistics this is a permutation. Using the four numbers he knows (NOT NINE!) he has four options for the first, three for the second, two for the third. That's 4x3x2x1=24 possibilities as he stated. (Why the system didn't have a "stops after the third password attempt" is beyond me)

Brick is a classic example of a film with a fascinating concept but frustrating execution. Visually and thematically, it promises a lot; a surreal urban prison, mysterious walls, and hints of deeper societal metaphors. The creativity is undeniable, and the premise alone earns some respect. Unfortunately, that's where the praise ends. The flow is muddled, the plot is meandering, and any emotional resonance falls completely flat. It is as if the movie wanted to be some sort of sci-fi thriller, but shifted into almost a drama. It is confusing, and not focused on the plot itself.

It leaves you more detached than intrigued. Once the credits roll, there's little desire to revisit; simply because it is unsatisfying. A wasted opportunity wrapped in a high-concept shell.

Schweighöfer, playing his usual Schweighöfer-role, wakes up and discovers - together with his wife - that all windows and doors are sealed shut by a mysterious black wall. Maybe the neighbors, who they reach by breaking through the wall, know something.

I've rarely seen something so utterly devoid of talent. Every single actor performs like they just found out what a film set is - this morning.

The dialogue is so far removed from anything resembling human speech, you'd think aliens tried to simulate human behavior... and failed miserably.

Every scene, every line, every plot point: completely absurd, utterly implausible.

So, if you're in the mood to cringe hard and feel your IQ gently slipping away - just hit play on Brick.