sunesvanborgsorensen

The premise is about as ridiculous as it gets. The spiritual song element has absolutely no bearing on the narrative (except for a far fetched excuse) - in fact, it feels like an hour's worth of "filler" until the "cool" ending. And speaking of the "twist/u-turn", ending, it isn't just stupid, it's uneventful and predictable (wonder why? Maybe we've seen it before, only MUCH better). The role of the twins feel like an agent's "bright idea" of making more money (it DEFINITELY isn't story driven). But the most disappointing thing about all of this is that audiences actually can't tell... It's like the state of cinema is caught in a nightmarish emperor's new clothes and the whole world is naked.

When are people going to get, that the Russo Brothers can't tell apart a great story from a meaningless piece of malarkey?

They did a string of pointless series and poorly rated comedies until by some miracle they landed the Captain America and Avengers movies, which are fan-films written "for them" with little-to-no audience scrutiny, after which studio execs and Netflix labelled them "bankable" and started throwing huge sums of money after their - now - endless stream of mediocrity.

Spending $200m on the pathetic John Wick copy (aka The Gray Man) has now culminated with this $320m piece of... Honestly, who cares? 🤷

Well, someone should. Because it has never been harder to get a movie made... The only ones getting made are ultra low budget $4-6m movies (which go on to win 5 Oscars) or... Whatever this is? Nothing in between.

Yet... In "between" used to have auteurs like Aronofsky, Coen Brothers, even Scorsese. Now they have to either jump on the "bandwagon" or quit...

The Russo Brothers are not to blame but it's a disgrace that Execs believe that supporting $200-350m movies with stories that could be written on the back of an envelope, has more merit that making twenty $15m movies that... Oh I don't know... Matter?

Who knows... One of them could actually be a real movie with a story that means something.

The premise, albeit far fetched (to be polite), does bring about deeper questions of art versus honor and places a radical juxtaposition of dilemmas right before us, which thankfully allows the drama to unfold in subtler ways than its heavy concept - ultimately gracing us with an outstanding performance by Jeremy Piven as well as an incredibly well orchestrated film language (even if I could have been without the "subjective camera", which doesn't quite add anything and oftentimes feels forced).

The story is well articulated and its characters fairly rounded (I would have loved deeper development with those around Piven though) and while Robert Carlyle at times stumbles slightly with his accent (in particular certain intonations that give away his Glasgow dialect), I found the relationship and interacting between Piven and Carlyle incredibly enticing.

But... If we accept the notion that this could happen, in its incredible unlikeliness, and we accept the idea that it could go as far as it does (which quite frankly is a stretch that I fear few historians would accept), then the ending is what breaks the camel's back for me.

I just don't believe it. The repercussions of his deceit are just... Unbelievable. And as such it falls flat.

It felt like the film missed a perfect chance to add authenticity to its implausible narrative but by neglecting this opportunity it does, in fact, do the entire story a disservice. Had it only ended like we know it did for most during those times, then it would have been Oscar worthy in my opinion. And yet, now it is so far away from that.

I am very impressed with its overall tone and staging of its actors, not least the captivating dance scenes (which can be incredibly hard to do) - there are so many great things to say, which is why I just so wish it had packed a bigger punch at its conclusion.

Regardless, I would recommend watching it if nothing else for the existential questions it poses.