Stray

This is how to make a bad movie. The story has a multiple holes and lazy performance from actors.

I really wanted to check this out because it had an interesting poster, and a plot-line straight out of a killer fantasy paperback. But, god, was this movie a torture sit through. First, I would say that the characters felt almost bland, except the detective, Murphy, whom we're introduced to while she stares at a man making her a tattoo. One would infer that she's trying to be flirtatious and get some action, but no, the tattooist is just a throwaway character.

Just like every other character that exists in the movie. No one really ever felt that they were in their zone, and crucial time was wasted on nonsense drama of the detective with no connection to the theme or narrative, than introducing the conflict and antagonist soon into the movie. Our secondary heroine, Nori, is also a blank slate of a character with no drive or motivation to get things moving. She mourns, she rests, does magical bullsh*t that's pretty much unexplained, and runs like a puny chicken with no real purpose.

Coming to the plot, it's one of the most predictable and bland storylines, that I've seen on screen. What could've been a thrilling supernatural horror drama, ends up being a half-assed attempt at a superhero origin story. The director must've watched some Dark, and some superhero films, and some anime, and tried to blend in everything to give us a stale and flavorless product. A premise like this should have excitement and tension, but none of it exists here. All because the characters react in an oblivious manner to any damn interesting supernatural phenomena. Seriously, if I'd seen something remotely anything otherworldly, I would legit freak out for days.

Solid technical values, and interesting music don't help the movie for lift off, since the engine isn't even there. A tighter and earlier sense of character conflict, and tension could've help the movie very much.

When a woman is found carbonized and petrified in a storehouse, Police Detective Stella Murphy (Christine Woods) is assigned by her chief Jake (Ross Partridge) to the case. Jake is Stella's former husband and they separated when their only child died in a tragic accident. Stella has just recovered from her loss and returned to the police department. The woman is identified as Kyoko (Saki Miata), and Detective Murphy goes to her home and meets her mother Seiko (Takayo Fischer) and her daughter Noriko (Karen Fukuhara). Soon Stella befriends Noriko and learns that her family has a secret power and is threatened by a mysterious biker (Miyavi).

"Stray" is an action film with a dark and depressive cinematography that could have been a great pilot of a series. The story has a great potential unfortunately wasted in a rushed screenplay that does not develop well the interesting and rich characters. Anyway, it is worthwhile watching this intriguing film with less expectations. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

This might have been better as an 8 part series so the characters, like the main ones, could have been developed better as to learn what their powers were all about. We got about a two minute explanation, sort of, about 3/4 of the way through from the brother that didn't explain much. All we knew was they had some sort of smokey power that could kill or heal and not much more than that. The acting overall though was fine just not enough time to get into anything real. Special effects and production value were fine as well. It was a slow rolling film that skimmed over the top of everything that might have added interest in the characters which also made the second half sort of boring. The first half at least was trying to figure out what was going on, so it could have actually been better with a better more developed script. It's watchable but only if nothing better to do.

This movie is very dark visually, so at times it was hard to see what was going on. This movie could have been better, but they focused too much attention in the wrong areas of the plot. The plot was interesting, but could have used a lot more development in terms of the antagonist. I'd say the one saving grace was Miyavi. He strikes me as a very talented actor and is able to display a lot of emotional depth for an otherwise very jaded character. Wish they had focused more on him as it could have saved the movie. If anything watch this movie for him. He's got talent.