He Went That Way

This film was hard work. I get that it's a true story and you have to be somewhat loyal to the reality of what actually happened, but man were these two tedious people to follow for 90 minutes. One is a wimp and the other is a psychopath. A psychopath can be a fun character if written correctly, but this one was just boring. He had nothing interesting to say and when he was killing someone it was just grim.

There were times when the movie showed some promise. I liked the addition of the monkey (sorry, chimpanzee) to the story and the added dimension that brought to the proceedings. Too often though scenes felt very forced and like they were just there to give the film some kind of purpose.

Basically I didn't care. The film never found a way to get me invested. This one wasn't for me. 5/10.

In 1964-based true-tale crime-drama "He Went That Way" mild-mannered down-on-his-luck chimpanzee handler Zachary Quinto picks up hitcher Jacob Elordi... who has deep psychological issues. Events escalate but the two (and Quinto's chimp) form an unlikely yet plausible bond (rubbing off on each other to an extent) as they travel Route 66, thru a series of largely dark encounters (with the likes of Troy Evans). Quinto & Elordi are terrific (no wonder the latter's a rising star), Evan M Wiener's screenplay is original & engaging, and Jeffrey Darling does a fine job bringing it all home in the only movie he ever directed before passing away (RIP). It's a tad different, but it's good.

I could tell within the first 30 minute that this was written and directed by children who have no experience in real life. I would guess that their parent paid for their film school education, and they have watched a lot of movies, which they assume would give them the ability to make a movie of their own. But there is nothing original or interesting here. Sorry, boys, you failed. Your characters are false, your story is derivative, and the movie doesn't even have any style. It's such a shame that you wasted the efforts of decent actors like Zachary Quinto and Jacob Elordi. Time to give up filmmaking and find a real job. I hear Applebee's is hiring.

Movies based on true stories always have my preference, certainly if it's about true crime and serial killers. I had never heard about this story before though, so it was a surprise. They probably embellished the whole story a bit so it felt more fiction than non-fiction. I really doubt that it went like this. That said it was pleasant to watch, mostly because of the good acting from Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto. The chimpanzee looked a bit fake but overall it was okay. Not a lot of action considering it's about a serial killer, and a rather slow pace, but still good enough due to the good acting.

Why is the serial killer always sucking on his thumb? It's weird.. he has no likeable qualities at all.. He is just a terrible character all around. During the entire movie, all that I cared about was seeing that chimp away from that psycho. Come to find out, ol the chimp is a human actor, which makes it even more odd. At this point I'm just writing because I still need 228 characters to write.. What else? The serial killer has about two brain cells. He's a creep. It's a slow burn, I had to skip through some of it. Ok, 80 more characters.. there isn't much left to say, I'm in the middle of the movie and it looks like they might become friends.