Here Are the Young Men

Engaging story about the dark decent of a group of boys. Some very solid acting from the main cast, especially from Dean-Charles Chapman. You really did believe his character was going through the crisis in the movie. Unlike many other reviewers, I actually enjoyed the absurd meta dream sequences. They were an interesting way to present the themes and troubles of the young men, adding a black humor element. The film was shot was like a music video, with a lot of beautiful effects and vibrant colors contrasting the dark content of violence, vandalism, drug binging, suicide, rape and even murder. Unfortunately, it lacks some more substance into why one of the main characters does what they do. Needed more background and exploration on downward spiral of mental illness and motivation. The film's message gets even more lost towards the last act. Although the story ending was somewhat satisfying, it still left a bad taste. But you definitely can't hate on Chapman for trying to sell the story, fantastic acting. Still worth watching.

I can't help but think that after Emma and Queens Gambit that Anya Taylor-Joy could get better roles than this. I should say that I absolutely adore this woman, she is beautiful and and made good choices as far as acting roles go BUT this movie just stinks. The storyline is sometimes dumb, (I wont add any spoilers) and as much as I love watching Anya this is not her best work, for example her Irish accent seems to come and go between Irish and American English. Hopefully she will continue to hone her craft and get better offers going forward.

The people reviewing this with bad reviews clearly missed the point. This is a movie based on the book by Rob Doyle. The book was fantastic and portrays the dark side of early adulthood well. It explores themes such as mental illness in a way that is brutally honest. The movie had to cut out some of that and obviously had to find a way to adapt Kearney's hallucinations. Eoin Macken did a great job making a great book into a movie, especially given the resources and the budget he had to work with. This movie had the potential to be better than it was, but it certainly wasn't horrible. If you're just watching for Anya Taylor-Joy, you won't like the movie. She was a part of this project long before she became famous for her roles in Queen's Gambit or Emma. She certainly isn't the only good part of this film. I highly recommend you read the book, as the movie becomes much more comprehensible once you have.

Taylor-Joy, Miami born doing a good Irish accent, plays older-for-younger and is the "smartest person in the room" in this otherwise familiar tale of young male self-destruction. You don't need a movie for that. Just walk to the local grocery store.

Tried my best to like it since we were watching it with some friends but the directing of this movie was to say the least, horrendous. Would like to see some of these actors in another movie together since their acting was phenomenal (specially the actress who played jen) it was more like the directors fault than their own to be honest.