In the Fire

For the record, this is not a Horror film. Everyone who watches it in expectation of horror will be disappointed. There are some mysterious events, and I must say, that I liked this aspect the least about the movie.

In The Fire is certainly not a bad movie. Neither are the actors doing bad, nor is the music out of place. Yes, the script may be a somewhere immature, not actually made by a master of the art of writing.

It leaves a number of things (like character backgrounds) untouched, and instead focusses on the boy and his strange mind, and how the presence of a well-meaning, understanding and caring person benefits him.

The movie tries to capture the atmosphere of a time and a place where education was mostly absent, and where superstition still could reach the minds of people, leading to cruelties.

Set and location are great, some things are weird, for instance, two priests on opposite sides, a farming "Don" with two servants, who does the work of a peasant, but can afford a personal shrink from the U. S. for his son.

Direction is ok.

I understand that the outcome of the story is somewhere unsettling, and also sad, but it is a story that is told with enough love and effort, so that I was entertained and not bored.

Six stars.

This is a film that truly should never have been made, not worth the film it's printed on as my old nan would say.

I'd love to say the acting was terrible but there wasn't any acting. There was just some cardboard that moved, in fact that was the most impressive thing about this film, seriously, you would struggle to see the stop animation in the movement. The only give away is that the characters are so wooden and stiff.

If you're still reading this review you have already spent more time here than you should ever spend on this film. It couldn't be worse than if you went to the cinema and just sat staring at the blank screen.

On the nose predictable, but bizarre in execution- Within minutes of the Lead showing up, it was clear a modern woman threw on a costume and time-warped into a period piece to demonstrate her gallantry and sexual fortitude, even though she --spoiler-- which pitched the narrative onto the pyre. Not sure what the take-away was supposed to be from this. I had no reason to buy-in, no protagonist (just an activist), and really nothing to admire or despise. This had some potential, and it seemed like some good shots and catchy sound design were present, but it fizzled more than it sizzled and ended up as a flame out for me.

No pun intended - I reckon it is not even permitted to talk about elephants in the room. So pointing out the obvious is out the window and we'll get to the meat (again no pun intended) of the movie, instead of its players.

So the story that I would not really put into the horror category, but more into the thriller genre, is overall fine or at least decent. It is predictable, but it does work. And while the female lead may not impress everyone, it is the non English actors who are doing the heavy lifting (no pun intended - and you may know them from a lot of other stuff if you watch a lot of movies).

Hopefully this works - and as they say ... lucky number three - but back to the morality and your own moral compass that will still be important ... and your liking ... outside the story ... talking of the story: it at least looks good (no pun intended here either). So yes I do feel it is rated a bit too low (for reasons you can guess yourself), but it also is not great ... you probably will have better things to do with your time anyway .. unless you are a fan of course.

This was a nice try and the story seemed interesting but the execution by the actors (other than the main young boy) all fell flat. No chemistry on the screen or believable dialogue. To say it was an underwhelming movie is being polite. The cinematography was decent but the editing and continuity was very amateur hour.

I honestly tried to enjoy this because the story was intriguing. Oh and how it was scored could have been much better. It just missed on so many levels. Unfortunately I think casting Amber Heard will make it box office fodder. Hopefully the director's next project will give them a better opportunity at success because this was definitely not a hit.