Misanthrope

I'm a huge fan of thrillers. Silence of the Lambs, and Se7ven are among my favorite movies of all time so I had high hopes after having watched the trailer.

So why the low rating. Cinematography is great (lighting, color grading, audio, etc.), Shailene Woodley as the lead does a good job but overall the story is just too thin and the majority of the cast is not delivering.

Would have loved to see a deeper story where you really felt attached to the detectives - just like Mills/Sommerset or Starling in the aforementioned movies. And also the killer here is underwhelming - not played well and his raison d'etre is just not good enough.

So hoping for this genre to grow but unfortunately this movie does not deliver and will not be one to remember.

Just by watching the trailer, I was annoyed with Mendelsohn's character Lammark, and I questioned casting Woodley as a beat cop - I mean there are so many other more convincing female actors out there. But oddly enough, both actors and their characters grew on me as the film progressed.

I'm also not a fan of slow paced films, and this one mostly is, but oddly enough, Argentinian co-writer and director Damián Szifron (in his first English film debut) made it all work with engaging scenes and circumstances. His directing was spot-on, and although there was ambiguity to many scenes and dialogue, the film came together like an old school psycho-thriller/police procedural. It felt like a non-Hollywood-stylized movie version of a better Criminal Minds episode.

The story was nothing revolutionary, but delivered enough suspense at the right moments, built intriguing character interest, and had some riveting action just at the right times to keep me fully engaged throughout the entire almost two hour runtime. So considering the current slim pickings out there for down and out enjoyable thriller/cop films, this one is a winner, and a definite recommend from me.

First of all, rotten tomatoes has reviewers comparing this to Silence of the Lambs. That's ho I heard about this one and got curious. This movie is a throwback to more of the mystery, thrillers we had in the 90s, but it's not Silence of the Lambs. The killer here is vicious and has a high body count. The pacing was pretty decent and I must say even more exciting than a lot of thrillers out today.

First, that opening sequence will grab your attention and the movie is bright enough to see that action on screen. Every performance works here and is played as a straight forward, solid thriller. I read where folks were split in how it ended. In my opinion, I thought the whole movie is solid and the ending was perfect. This is that rare thriller that I'd actually pay to see again.

I haven't been rating movies, but I feel it is necessary for me to review this one. This is not a thrill-a-second kind of movie. It progresses intelligently and thoughtfully. It is a thinking movie. The acting and script are excellent. The two leads were perfect for this movie. They seemed to feed off of one another, trying to outdo each other as the best actor in the movie. So many movies fall flat at the end. But this one excelled. It actually has a good ending. I recommend this movie to anyone who is intelligent, and likes to think. Yes, it got a bit slow with some scenes that maybe could have been written a little better. That's why I'm only giving it an eight. But I don't know how anyone could walk away from this movie disappointed!

A marksman strikes on New Year's Eve, killing almost thirty people, on the case is FBI Agent Landmark, who gives a chance to intelligent, but troubled Police Officer Eleanor.

This is a Thriller with a bit of depth, and one that will definitely hold your interest, it doesn't exactly cover any new ground, or give us anything that hasn't been done before, but when I compare this to the batch of recent thrillers that I've seen recently, this one offers a bit more.

The final showdown was a particularly good scene, a good old fashioned scene of the good guy taking on the bad one, the age old hunt for a moral code.

Maybe the scenes inside the abattoir were a little unexpected and graphic, they'll be too much for some viewers.

I've seen Shailene Woodley in a few things, and for me this is the best of her, I thought she was excellent as. I thought Ralph Ineson was terrific.

It's not groundbreaking, but it's a decent watch.

7/10.