La part obscure

Dormer's earlier film The Forest was boring n lousy but in this film she gave a good performance. I liked this film's suspense n story. This movie will keep u glued till the end. The sex scene was necessary to establish the connection between the characters n the nudity to show off the tattoos.

Natalie Dormer ("Game of Thrones") is fine as a blind pianist with a tortured past. The script she co-wrote with Director Anthony Byrne is thoughtful and delivers ample twists and turns. And the sound editing amplifying a sightless aural experience is first-rate on behalf of a talented team headed by veteran pro Harald Ansorge.

This established, I came way from "In Darkness" strangely less than satisfied. The pace never felt quite right. At least for me it didn't match the inherent volatility of the story being presented.

And I'm still in the dark as to why.

Sometimes when actors play a part in writing a movie that they know they will be acting in they spend too much time trying to give their character room to flourish and not enough time on making the rest of the film sustainable. I think that is a little bit of what happened here. Lead actress Natalie Dormer co-wrote the movie with her husband (who also directed the film) and it has to be said she turns in a very impressive performance as a blind woman. The rest of the movie though leaves a lot to be desired.

The biggest problem is has is that it's over-complicated. Many previous films have fallen into the trap of over-complication and it has almost always harmed them. Unless you are Christopher Nolan who seems to be able to simplify even the most complex of storylines, you really shouldn't try too hard in that respect. 'Ocean's Twelve' was a prime example of that. It got so complicated that it was no longer fun. 'In Darkness' is very similar. You're working so hard to keep up with everything that you're never actually able to just sit back and enjoy yourself.

The movie is made with some nice style and I liked the amount of ambition that went into it. It wasn't done on the cheap and nasty, that's for sure. Unfortunately though it just didn't really work for me. It tried to have some "knock your socks off" moments but none of them really landed and the end result was a pretty forgettable film.

Sort of hard to believe this film is rated a 5.8 on here right now. Though I would agree that it definitely is flawed, it also has many great aspects to it. It's a worthy effort and a worthy watch if you like smart thrillers. Mostly it is a smart thriller, but it eventually goes just a little too far to be a great film, but to me it was definitely good. I strongly dislike the major twist at the end, it was so unneeded and just flat out didn't fit the film. Otherwise though, it's quite interesting with some very unique aspects for an American film. 7/10

No British thriller can be done without the most absurd, ham-handed and obvious conspiracy thrown in. I won't spoil the "twist" at the end other than to say it is childish.