Stray

I really wanted to check this out because it had an interesting poster, and a plot-line straight out of a killer fantasy paperback. But, god, was this movie a torture sit through. First, I would say that the characters felt almost bland, except the detective, Murphy, whom we're introduced to while she stares at a man making her a tattoo. One would infer that she's trying to be flirtatious and get some action, but no, the tattooist is just a throwaway character.

Just like every other character that exists in the movie. No one really ever felt that they were in their zone, and crucial time was wasted on nonsense drama of the detective with no connection to the theme or narrative, than introducing the conflict and antagonist soon into the movie. Our secondary heroine, Nori, is also a blank slate of a character with no drive or motivation to get things moving. She mourns, she rests, does magical bullsh*t that's pretty much unexplained, and runs like a puny chicken with no real purpose.

Coming to the plot, it's one of the most predictable and bland storylines, that I've seen on screen. What could've been a thrilling supernatural horror drama, ends up being a half-assed attempt at a superhero origin story. The director must've watched some Dark, and some superhero films, and some anime, and tried to blend in everything to give us a stale and flavorless product. A premise like this should have excitement and tension, but none of it exists here. All because the characters react in an oblivious manner to any damn interesting supernatural phenomena. Seriously, if I'd seen something remotely anything otherworldly, I would legit freak out for days.

Solid technical values, and interesting music don't help the movie for lift off, since the engine isn't even there. A tighter and earlier sense of character conflict, and tension could've help the movie very much.

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life......or something like that the priest mass at the edge of the grave, and i will draw correlations from there to this mystery horror drama.

its a small american family of japanese herritage, that has been gifted or blessed with surtain supernatural abilities, that may be protective to some and lethal to others. when mum abruptly dies under mysterious circumstances the police are connected to the family. its from then on for the police to phatom what a mystical case they've let themselves into.

its a drama at many levels,so if youre into the''herreditary'' or ''the silent place'' kinda films this will suit you well.

as a product it has some nice but nevertheless on bargain special effects, most of the actors are what i call b-standard, but the story and acting ,settings and locations , makes this film drifts to scratch the surface of air, and borderlining the A-standard. the score though ruins more than building suspence , so the selection is bad. the sound effects though are flawless.

remember , im an old grumpy man, that didnt like '' it comes at night'' nor ''suspiria'', so im not the film guru sleeping on a nail bed, so a bit squemish i am,so take care when i say its recommended.

This might have been better as an 8 part series so the characters, like the main ones, could have been developed better as to learn what their powers were all about. We got about a two minute explanation, sort of, about 3/4 of the way through from the brother that didn't explain much. All we knew was they had some sort of smokey power that could kill or heal and not much more than that. The acting overall though was fine just not enough time to get into anything real. Special effects and production value were fine as well. It was a slow rolling film that skimmed over the top of everything that might have added interest in the characters which also made the second half sort of boring. The first half at least was trying to figure out what was going on, so it could have actually been better with a better more developed script. It's watchable but only if nothing better to do.

I'm giving this a generous 5. Wasn't bad enough for me to want to stop watching. But wasn't that great that it left something to the imagination. The biggest issue I had with this movie, was that it had no flow. Too much character development (2/3 of it was), and not enough of the plot. When it finally got around to the guts of the film, it was pretty much nearing the end of the movie. It's like they cut out a big chunk in the middle. Kinda like going to a fancy restaurant ordering a meal for $80, and all you got was a little piece of steak, and bunch of garnish around it to make it look pretty. That you upon leaving the restaurant, you go to a burger joint to get something actually filling. lol

This is one of those movies, that if you absolutely have nothing else to watch, and need some background noise, and visual distraction from working from home.

When a woman is found carbonized and petrified in a storehouse, Police Detective Stella Murphy (Christine Woods) is assigned by her chief Jake (Ross Partridge) to the case. Jake is Stella's former husband and they separated when their only child died in a tragic accident. Stella has just recovered from her loss and returned to the police department. The woman is identified as Kyoko (Saki Miata), and Detective Murphy goes to her home and meets her mother Seiko (Takayo Fischer) and her daughter Noriko (Karen Fukuhara). Soon Stella befriends Noriko and learns that her family has a secret power and is threatened by a mysterious biker (Miyavi).

"Stray" is an action film with a dark and depressive cinematography that could have been a great pilot of a series. The story has a great potential unfortunately wasted in a rushed screenplay that does not develop well the interesting and rich characters. Anyway, it is worthwhile watching this intriguing film with less expectations. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available