L'ombre du passé

The suspense was fine, as well as the acting. There were some nice little twists now and there and it was not predictable.

Is someone messing with the main character or is he messing with others? Is he losing his mind? Who is the villain and what do they want? Enough to keep you guessing til the very end.

However, it feels like it was meant to be a three hours movie and somehow it got cut into less than hour and a half.

As a result, there are subplots that literally go nowhere, underdeveloped characters and motivations, background stories that never get explored in a meaningful way, very vague hints at something possibly important about the characters and so on.

Haven't seen the original Korean movie yet, but this one kinda makes want to do it in order to place all the missing pieces together.

The great joy of watching, or reading, a mystery, thriller, or psychological what-not is what we believe the outcome will be...and what it actually is. We think of the 'clues' the incidents that should lead to the eventual conclusion, the confusions, the misconceptions... 'Hide and Seek' is exasperating. You can guess along with the muddling plot and actions. You try to go along with it...You try to find logical conclusions..... Not this time!!! The plot meanders all over the place, and it is not a spolier to say.....'What the hell is going on'? We are left with questions that only indicate that somewhere along the line, an hour of plotwas losston the editing room. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? I defy you to answer the basics.

I guess the filmmakers thought that "mystery" movies were supposed to remain a mystery after you got done watching them. About halfway through I lost track of the plot. I still don't get it. I thought the movie was supposed to be about the guy looking for his brother. Was there really a brother? Did he ever find him? Also about halfway through this movie starts to be about the crazy lady. Why? Did she have anything at all to do with the main character or his brother, or did they just decide that the main plot was too boring and bring her in to add interest? I wish someone would explain the plot. You can put "spoiler alert" if you want, but how could anyone spoil this awful movie?

Where s the logic? If I were to explain my review would contain spoilers, so I will try to keep my review vague. Lets just say the killer kills out of frustration?

So he made this movie ................

AKA: See JRM run.

Horror shows are not my thing, but I wanted to see JRM in something besides a Henry VIII cod piece, so I watched this movie. This view-it-once movie.

AND it also has Joe Pantoliano who I always enjoy. PLUS!!! Geoffrey Owens. I think he is one of the best under rated character actors we have.

This movie is a mishmash of stuff that does not mesh (mash) well together at all - it's like a recipe of things that are usually really good, but don't quite fit together in this manner. The only thing I truly enjoyed - besides Joe P and Geoffrey O, were the buildings in NYC. Those were spectacular! Especially the older ones.

All that said - I used it to cleanse my viewing palate of very heavy duty films. And it did the trick! Plus, it was in English, so I wasn't tethered to the TV and could roam around and still keep up with what was happening.

I would say it IS worth the watch - once. Just so you can say you saw JRM sans a cod piece or monk's robe!

PS - Reviewers who comment on actors looks (especially negatively) really need to stop it. IMHO.