La Black Box

A well acted and well cast movie with a good pace. Phylicia Rashad is a stand out and really helps the story along. It's difficult to write too much without giving away any spoilers and the minor mistakes in the plot consistency are easily overlooked as you want the story to continue.

Not enough of a thinking movie or a thriller/mystery to get an 8 or 9 but a good watch in any case.

"Black Box" is the one of a first batch of movies made in partnership between Amazon Prime and Blumhouse productions, famed budget studio that specialises in making horror movies. Though by no means a bad film, I do wonder if that Blumhouse name might give people incorrect expectations about "Black Box" that may lead to disappointment.

Six months after losing his wife in a car accident, Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) is struggling with memory issues related to the severe head trauma he received. This is impacting his ability to care for his daughter Ava (Amanda Christine), so he agrees to undertake an experimental therapy from leading specialist, Doctor Lillian Moore (Phylicia Rashad), which combines element of hypnosis and virtual reality. Exploring his own memories, Nolan comes under threat from an unrecognisable and barely human form.

When I mention expectations, even in that synopsis it sounds like the movie is a horror film - and the character of backwards man, played by Troy James, who I've seen perform on "The Flash", is certainly a creepy element. But beyond him, the film is more of a science fiction thriller, than it is a horror film - and that may disappoint some brought by the Blumhouse name. Away from that aspect, the film has the good sense to use its rather obvious twist well before the end, and then use that as an exploration point for the finale, rather than as the ending itself. That said, I thought overall the film was a little dull and struggled to full maintain my attention for the duration.

However, it is the first feature for Writer/Director Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour and for screenwriter Stephen Herman and though, as I say, I thought the plotting was a little pedestrian, from a technical standpoint the film is pretty good. It often interesting to look at, and what visual effects the film has are nicely done. Mamoudou Athie is decent as the lead, a little bland at the start but that does begin to make sense as the film goes on.

I have no massive regrets about watching it, but it was all just a little too mediocre to consider recommending it.

A good thriller movie with new story. But there is nothing horror in this movie. Movie is bit slow but not boring. Climax was not that good and could have been improved.

The rating almost turned me off this movie. But with nothing better to do I have it a go. It was a solid phycological thriller, amazing acting and a good twist. Give it a go

I put an * because I was wide awake at 2:00am and I needed something to watch. I saw Blumhouse and I saw Phylicia Rashad and I thought ok, lets do.

I was pulled in from the beginning and was interested in trying to figure out what was wrong with this guy. By the time the "twist" happened, I had figured out most of it, but I still couldn't turn away and wanted to see how it ended. I thought overall the movie was satisfying. If you're a perfectionist, I probably wouldn't bother with this because the writing was a little choppy and you might have to suspend disbelief to suspend disbelief, but it's really not a bad flick.