And Soon the Darkness

Good things first, some very nice cinematography of the landscapes. Cool looking deserted town that looks like something from a nuclear holocaust. Now that's out of the the way, on to the bad...

Clichéd characters. The Ellie character is just plain annoying and whilst I'm not a prude her behaviour just invited trouble - she's in an unknown country surrounded by strangers and acts like a complete whore. The good guy character hints at some promise but is taken out of the equation too easily. No inventiveness applied here, nothing you haven't seen a million times. Plus the female leads look like famine victims, especially Ellie - neither of them would have had the strength to fight off any kind of attack. I don't know if this is what Hollywood considers sexy nowadays but if so you can keep it.

Only rent if there is absolutely nothing else.

And Soon the Darkness is a serviceable "vacation gone bad" thriller. The two lead actresses are VERY pleasant to look at. They bike and sunbathe and run very prettily. But the story is so predictable that it's almost comical, the bad guys and plot twists are apparent from the very beginning, and the protagonists make decisions so stupid that they almost seem to ask for the situation that they get involved in.

You should be very familiar with this kind of plot by now. A pair of attractive young American tourists (Odette Yustman and Amber Heard) get separated from their bike tour group in Argentina, meet some suspicious people, get separated from each other, and then one of them goes missing. They're not the smartest of tourists, that's for sure. 

Even if you can stand the by-the-numbers plot (for Odette Yustman, I can accept a LOT of clichés and obvious plot twists), And Soon the Darkness isn't a very thrilling thriller. There's not a lot of creativity or imagination to it, it's just the same movie we've seen before with some new faces. Watch it if you're a fan of Yustman or Heard, but don't expect a lot.

Two young American women (Amber Heard and Odette Yustman) are biking around Argentina. It is a fun adventure, at least until one of them gets kidnapped. Can the other track down the kidnapper and save her friend? Who can she trust?

This film is a remake of a 1970 British thriller. For all intents and purposes, the connection could be overlooked and the film would be just fine. While some things were kept the same -- the bicycling, lack of subtitles and a shot of a plane overhead -- much of it was changed. The setting has moved from France to Argentina, the girls' names were changed, and there is a whole new dynamic. This film could have stood on its own.

Writer-director Marcos Efron truly does make it his own film, and it helps to have two of today's finest young stars in the lead roles. Amber Heard, at the time of this film's release, was already known and about to be more well-known alongside Johnny Depp and Nic Cage. Odette Yustman, perhaps less well-known, is still a star in her own right.

The film is tense, suspenseful, better-paced than the original, with beautiful color and scenery. There is a sexy element, but no outright sex. There is a violent element, but no outright gore. The film is R, but could get by with what I would call a "hard PG-13". Even the torture aspects never enter into the "torture porn" realm of "Saw" or "Hostel", or even "Turistas", and I give this film credit for that, staying firmly in "thriller" rather than "horror" territory.

While I would not give it a must-see, mandatory recommendation, it is a great thriller and one of the better films I have seen in a while. I never get sick of seeing Heard or Yustman, especially when they are in their swimsuits. This film earns a B, maybe a B-plus. The Anchor Bay DVD is also loaded with special features.

My mother-in-law highly recommended this film so the other night my old lady and I unfortunately decided to watch it.

This is a movie that is a paint by numbers type of thing. After the first ten minutes this seemed headed to Touristas-land. Overall it is like Touristas but without the organ harvesting (for Touristas with organ harvesting but on a train, please watch The Train).

The first ridiculous thing is that you have these two beautiful chicks that are on a bicycle tour through South America. These chicks aren't even on full laden touring bikes with panniers. Just mountain bikes with a small trunk bag that carries all their hot clubbing clothes and high heels. Second, these chicks are so skinny. It looks like they couldn't ride more than 5 miles with their toothpick legs and flip-flop shoes. Totally unconvincing as bicycle tourists.

Next, they decide to get all tarted and liquored up and tease the deranged locals at some bar and maybe get in some action with a few men even though they know that the only bus out of town is leaving at 8am. Of course they act severely disrespectful and stupid almost provoking a kidnapping, beat down and Amtrak.

I have to say that the movie is watchable because the scenery is nice and the locations and buildings are interesting and the chicks have pretty faces, but the whole time you're just screaming how stupid can these chicks be. Bicycling around in hot-pants and a sports-bra in some Argentinian red-neck holler with the degenerates leering and rubbing there mitts together in anticipation for tonight's party favor...

I should probably see the original but didn't even know about it until I came here to spew my review for the lame remake.

Bottom line: Don't waste your time on this one. It is flat-out predictable, stupid, and lame. Even The Train is better than this one.

A woman goes missing on a bike trip around Argentina and her friend desperately searches to find her.

This is a fairly familiar tale as two naive girls find out the hard way that if you're traveling around a strange country you need your wits about you.

The Argentinian setting at least makes a pleasant change from normal USA thrillers and there is some nice cinematography. Amber Heard does a good job as the woman looking for her friend evoking the sense of desperation you'd feel looking for someone in a foreign country. Karl Urban as the man helping her is likable if a little wooden.

Based on the relatively low IMDb rating ( currently 5.2) I wasn't expecting too much. In truth although nothing outstanding this is fairly engrossing and at times tense thriller. It does at least try and spring a few surprises that you don't see coming.

The ending is fairly predictable but this is still a fairly enjoyable ride.