The Limehouse Golem - Mistero sul Tamigi

Based on the book of the same name. The late 1800s murder mystery, revolving around a young woman and an old cop who is investigating a series of murders. Elizabeth Cree had not had a best childhood, but she almost reached to her dream to become a best actress in the town. Then suddenly a murder jeopardise everything she had worked so hard. Now she has to cooperate with a detective to come out of the mess. But the tale takes a twist at every corner, making more complication for her freedom. How this puzzle is solved was told with a final twist that flips the whole scenario upside down.

First of all, I love such costume drama. The atmosphere was awesome. Well maintained suspense, along with a good pace of the story narration. From all it's the actors, especially for me, it's the Olivia Cooke. Bill Nighy was not bad too. Despite he's one of the main character, Cooke stole the show. But the film was not a masterpiece. From an entertainment perspective, it delivered. I think it was a good adaptation. The only weak point is, most people would guess the end twist. It was intentional. But overall film was decent.

6/10

THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM won't change the world, but it's definitely worth watching if you're the kind of person who likes to watch a movie with a bit of mystery. Set in old London, this movie follows a detective who is trying to solve a series of murder cases that somehow seem to connect to the local playhouse theater of the district. There's a host of suspects, and time is running out as an innocent may be executed soon.

Here's the one thing that matters for a movie like this: I definitely found myself trying to guess who the murderer was. And I really didn't know for most of the movie who it would be! So in that sense, THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM clearly succeeded for me. There was some pretty good acting and there were interesting themes of revenge and jealousy being explored... all in all an interesting, although not world-changing, crime thriller.

A good-looking gaslit Victorian murder mystery set in 1880 with a classy cast of actors (including Bill Nighy and Eddie Marsan) and suspects (including Karl Marx and George Gissing), a powerhouse performance by Olivia Cooke as a music hall actress and pioneer of male impersonation; and a satisfying conclusion.

I'd have to call this movie intriguing rather than engrossing. The story is reasonably interesting. It focuses on the investigation into a series of Jack the Ripper-style murders in Victorian London in the 1880's committed by a killer who was known as The Limestone Golem. Alongside that investigation is the story (and trial) of a young woman and music hall actress named Elizabeth (Olivia Cooke) accused of poisoning her husband. Inspector Kildare of Scotland Yard (played by Bill Nighy) is assigned to investigate the Golem murders and also becomes involved with Elizabeth's case as he begins to think that her deceased husband might have been the Golem.

What I found most intriguing about this movie was the way in which actual historical figures of the time were woven into the plot. Dan Leno (Douglas Booth) was in fact a very famous British actor of the day; George Gissing (Margan Watkins) was a British novelist of the day and Karl Marx (Henry Goodman) really did live in London at the time. Leno, Gissing and Marx all became suspects in the Golem murders. I thought the fictional story managed to incorporate them into the plot very well and very believably. The performances were good. The setting of the movie seemed authentic. There was a Victorian feel to this movie in both the sets and the dialogue, and it was interesting to get a bit of the taste of what it migt have been like behind the scenes of a London music hall of that era. All that was well done.

The story, however, seemed somewhat choppy to me. I wasn't taken with the flow of the movie; it seemed inconsistent from beginning to end. At times it also seemed as if a little bit too much effort was being put in to trying to keep the viewer guessing, but the end result (for me) was times of confusion over the story more than anything. The "twist" in the plot as the murderer was finally revealed took me by surprise (which I appreciated) but then the movie went on for a little bit too long. Once the twist was revealed I was ready for the story itself to come to an end, and I thought the last few scenes (once the identity of the Golem had been revealed) were superfluous.

It was an interesting movie, even if it was a little bit uneven. Overall, I'd say it deserves a 6/10.

Well crafted movie with a beautiful cast, good aesthetics and some nicely twisted elements made for a enjoyable watch even tho from my point of view, the ending is quite predictable from the very start. It was rather obvious the destination, yet the journey remained suspenseful and filled with little hidden gems here and there.

Bill Nighy is one great actor, I'm sadden by the fact that he didn't manage to make a bigger splash earlier, but even now, his presence on the screen brings so much force, so much seriosity, that you take everything in deeper and leaves behind quite an impact with every line he says. He was perfectly cast here, as the other actors too, a diversity and character development that I loved from the very start.

Of course I will recommend this movie, but bare in mind, there is close to no horror here, you will find no such thing, but only the horror of man. What man is capable of, his hideous crimes, selfishness, but has nothing to do with jump scares or tension.

Cheers!