Solace

"Solace" is a weird but watchable supernatural thriller. The good director and cast and the original storyline are the best this film can offer. Unfortunately the gloomy screenplay is messy and destroys the expectations of this forgettable movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Presságios de um Crime" ("Omens of a Crime")

If we could see people's future, I never would have seen this film being so deep.

Solace focuses on a closed off psychic who helps to find a serial killer, but soon becomes more important to the case than he knows. Anthony Hopkins and Colin Farrell star in this mystery thriller to wow the audience on life and moral behaviour.

The film gives thrills, action, suspense, and deep thinking to keep the audience 100% focused. We view brilliant camera work and interesting editing sequences to dazzle our eyes. Though I do not promise this film to be the utter best, but completely enjoyable, and a film to spread the word around about.

The film provides plenty of depth to the characters, and immediately put the audience on their side. Anthony Hopkins is a clever, caring, and intelligent character that gives the film the performance it needed, along with an emotional story as well. However the choice of Colin Farrell for the psychotic free believer, serial killer may not be the perfect decision. Granted Farrell provides plenty of depth and character in his performance, especially presenting great characterisation compared to previous performances, I personally did not see Farrell as the ideal actor for this role.

I give this film a 7/10, providing you with much more then you first think. This is a film for thrill seekers, and viewers who like to think, but also one to be discussed.

Honestly, give it a shot. It's a lot better than you are expecting after reading all the bad reviews and the rating it has here on IMDb. The only problem I have with this movie is with the casting.. while Hopkins and Farrell do well, the other two(Abbie Cornish and Jeffrey Dean Morgan) are just rubbish, Abbie in particular was really embarrassing to watch, even though she is good looking, her acting is just excruciatingly bad! Both of them are as convincing as FBI agents as a squirrel. There are a few bad dialogue lines and some clichés but the story is compelling and Hopkins still delivers.

Other than that, it is an enjoyable and engaging movie.

It's hard to believe than an interesting idea with such a casting for the main roles can end up being such a mediocre movie.

The script is not great, it definitely has its flaws, but what really bothered me is the camera work and cinematography. It really makes this movie look cheap. Even though there is a decent budget (big actors, cars being destroyed..), the style is completely absent. The shaky camera and quick zooms look horrible and distracting in this kind of movie, it's like the director made a couple of action movies and didn't know how to film this. It's a very dark story, with very dark characters and dialogs, but the visual mood tells a completely different story, and if you're aware of this aspect of a movie, it will definitely spoil this one like it happened to me.

Another big annoyance was the character Joe (J. D. Morgan), which was supposed to be a burned down cop with a big mess on his hands, but then he walks around with a gentle smile, being cool and nice and sharing some lovely scenes with his happy family. I actually like the actor, but it seems that he wasn't really guided into the character. Complete kill of mood. There were lots of moments where the characters kind of lose the touch with the nature of the story and I found that very distracting. This was supposed to be a sequel for Se7en. Compare it with that and you'll see exactly what I mean.

I'm sure lots of people will find this movie good, watchable. I feel like it had the potential to be way better, but the director failed to set the mood right.

I'm actually glad they didn't make this into a sequel for Se7en.

The premise where Psychics are helping the police to find killers are a very common thing in movies and TV series and maybe in real life. They won't tell you who the killer is. Just bits and pieces of information, sometimes misleading or misinterpreting.

The same goes for "Solace" a rather naive supernatural thriller which gains substance and becomes interesting because of the presence of veteran multi-awarded actor Anthony Hopkins. Colin Farrell is also in this but maybe he is miscast.

The direction and editing might bother some people but I personally found it OK. Lots of digital Effects, slow motions, quick distorted editing, are always a way to present visions or memories, and this movie has plenty.

One of the problems of "Solace" is that it has a strong statement about a rather delicate matter which I won't reveal because ultimately is the motive of the villain. It's like a moral that forces you to accept it, without expressing the opposite side which is equally strong.

Overall: You won't waste your time with this one. Is a decent Supernatural Thriller and Anthony Hopkins is effortlessly great. In my opinion though skip the obvious moral, or give it some more thought.