In the Shadow of the Moon

It's refreshing to find a mid range budgeted thriller. The film is unafraid to attempt high concept storytelling and for the better part of the running time it works. There are some strong flaws, but if you can go with the film, you'll enjoy the twists and turns. Nice to see Netflix relying on these high concept to lure audiences, who are trapped by mega studios pumping superheroes at us. Not great, but I thought it was interesting.

The talanted horror/thriller director Jim Mickle (Cold in July; Stake Land) teams up with the rising star Boyd Holbrook & brings to Netflix his newest piece - the exciting and entertaining mystery detective/killer flick "In the Shadow of the Moon".

"In the Shadow of the Moon" starts like any other police thriller, introducing us to a duo of likeable cops, a damp city full of crime & a mystery in the making. Through equal amounts of engaging drama, energetic action and time skipping we steadily move forward to the solution of the mystery, accompanied by the obsessive detective Lockhart who's got some heavy burdens on his shoulders. Boyd Holbrook, whom I first saw on "Narcos" (as I'm sure many people did as well) gives a great lead performance as detective Lockhart & the supporting cast helps him out well, especially Bokeem Woodbine & Cleopatra Coleman. The revelation of the sci-fi twist & the point of the mystery comes a tad bit too slowly & doesn't quite have the impact one would wish for, but, nevertheless, while "In the Shadow of the Moon" left me wanting more, at the same time the ending felt right. The themes of horrors and wonders of humanity & family values are served well. We cannot forget that the movie also looks gorgeous, has a decent original score, well made action sequences & even features a few bloody scenes for the horror fans. In summary, "In the Shadow of the Moon" kinda looks like, feels like and plays out like a big-screen movie.

I think this movie could've been a little less convoluted, with a different, less straight forward mystery building structure, but the result is still engaging, handsome and thoughtful thriller piece. My rating: 7/10.

It's mid budget and reasonable acting etc. There are a lot of negative comments and some people are offended way too easily, perhaps some are looking into it way too much for faults and racism, it's fiction. There are a hell of a lot more offensive movies out there, I am 58 and white and I did not even think of any of the things that some of the overly sensitive reviewers on here so just enjoy it as the fictional movie that it is and not a propaganda movie with messages of hate.

So people are rating this low because it is alleged that it has a political message of 'wipe out an opposite view'? have they been hiding under a rock since cinema began? Most films before I was even born have been about one enemy wiping out another, morality has not been the premise of most films through cinematic history . This is simply an action film not based on real life, its obviously not a true story , the heart of it is simply the idea that if you were to, for instance, wipe out Hitler or his parents you potentially save millions of people from all different backgrounds. so do you wipe out the few or let the millions die? I suppose these films serve a good purpose in opening up the debate so I'll give it a 7 . Watch the film, enjoy it, its a good story , somewhat predictable at times but a good twist in the end.

The good. Original plot twists, a couple which may have never been done in a major movie before. Though the theme and core idea borrows heavily from 12 Monkeys.

The movie does build suspense and a dark brooding atmosphere like 12 monkeys did in the first hour, then unravels as the plot is thrust unwillingly into an otherwise good story. You can almost think of it as 2 movies in 1. The first movie is well acted, directed, with excellent sound and decent action scenes. A little over the top but mild compared to the drivel Hollywood is producing today.

The bad. This film could have seriously benefited from a science adviser. This is what initially kills suspension of belief as the, I cannot call it even pseudo science, it's not even good magic, begins to degrade the story and tug the viewer away. This destroys the suspense and the big reveal is not even a weak anti-climax.

Huge plot holes develop as the writers lose track of what wrote previously. This throws you out, and before you can get lured back into the fantasy they commit another egregious error. The specifics would give away the entire movie, so are omitted, but clearly no one with even a high school physics course, the most rudimentary understandings of sociology, psychology or really any branch of physics, especially biology, all are not even given cartoon like salutes. The story just steamrolls through blunder after blunder.

Now for the really ugly. The political bias just leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. It's scary that even a child could buy into a plot idea so naive, much less destroy what otherwise could have been an excellent film. I strongly suspect the first half of this movie was stolen from another story. It starts too well, flows too well to be hacked by such oafish hands in the last half of the movie. There were a million ways this movie could have developed, but the least plausible and most predictable was chosen.

By yanking the viewer out so violently the one really inspired plot twist is aborted and thrown to the floor to thrash in artistic agony.

In the end it becomes a really pale imitation of 13 monkeys without the hard hitting story. that made 13 monkeys such an incredible movie. My advice, watch the first hour then turn the movie off. Be left with the magic they were able to conjure without the corpse they eventually produce.