jan-biebaut

Everyone knows from the trailer that it all starts with an innocent meeting of a family with a daughter becoming friends with a couple with a son, and being invited by them to stay at their estate in the countryside in England.

The entire film now is about a cat and mouse game between the two families. It already starts during the meeting in Italy; in a very subtle way in the conversations and the attitude of everyone, although as an audience member seeing the film for the first time you do not realize it. But once we arrive at the estate, this cat and mouse game systematically degenerates, ending in a denouement with many unexpected twists and an ending according to the Hitchcock book, with quite a few bloody scenes.

The actors perform brilliantly; the relationships between each one are for once not stereotypical and contribute to the edge of your seat.

If you like exciting movies, don't hesitate, this is a must.

I saw the original version afterwards; I don't think this version is not better. The build-up lacks enough clues at the beginning that something is about to happen. The ending is too unrealistic for me and is more like the end of a metaphorical art film and breaks too much with the flow of the story. I particularly like the images of the ending but I don't think they fit this film. I am unbiased; I myself am European, Belgian and love skandinavian cinema but this time the American version still surpasses this one.

The story could quite make for a great film but it doesn't.

You know by the fact that it is a thriller and that they are on an isolated island owned by a rich man that something is about to happen. But for the first forty minutes, just nothing happens, not even a suggestion of anything disturbing. All you witness as a spectator is drinking, smoking a lot of weed, dancing, pointless conversations in the sense of a reality show like 'ex on the beach' nothing more ... and then boredom strikes as a spectator.

After forty minutes, everything goes very quickly; one person becomes aware of 'something' and that by being stupidly bitten by a snake. How a snake bite can cause that is not communicated, what she is suddenly aware of is not said. She simply says 'there is something that is not right', and you have to go with that. From then on, a lot happens, with flash backs and action, but nothing is hinted at; which makes you suddenly confronted with situations and flash backs that are suddenly thrown in without any meaning. There is just the superficially simple story that everyone will understand, but any reference to what preceded it, or the connection between each is left out.

So in the first part, the film is a tedious take on an underwhelming reality show and the second part a banal poorly made action film without really much action and an ending that is incomprehensible due to, as throughout the film, the lack of any explanation.

The only thing that is quite enjoyable are the images, the photography. Some scenes are a treat for the eyes. The acting is not exceptional but adequate. But the movie was not intended as an art-film.

Good advice let this film pass you by and opt for Walt Disney's latest film, at least there the story is consistent.

Noa's tribulations are not so much about the future of apehood, but rather the adolescent feelings of a growing ape and the generational conflicts with his father who then turns out not to be such a demanding father in the end. The latter are thwarted by tribal conflict among the apes. 'Man' barely gets involved until the middle of the film. When it does, it is in the person of a woman who initially does not talk and turns out to be insignificant. You only see the only other humans for about 6 minutes and that's when a group of people are drinking and subsequently being aged up. What happens to the trapped people is not shown or mentioned. The woman later turns out not to be a stupid creature but also to be able to talk, is wise and even possesses a secret mission, which you only know about during the last two minutes of the film.

For me, it is a storyless film that resembles a very bland decoction of Mad Max among the apes with one human as the antagonist.

I would say don't spend your time and money on it.