Rebecca

How can something, so beautiful, so twisted and so disturbing, be so boring?

It just kept me going back and forth, and I thought I'd land in a good place in the end, but no.

The first half was good, but the second half is when everything started to fall apart for me.

Without revealing too much, in the second half, especially towards the end (like the last half hour), the dialogue turned awkward & inconsistent. The events including significant revelations were RUSHED so much that there was no build up to them nor enough time to let them sink in before moving on to the next scene. The reactions to some news or events within the plot were dull & lacked sincerity and passion.

The editing for those scenes didn't help either. It just kept jumping too fast to the next scene or cut to a different frame in a different location in the middle of a revealing conversation. That's when they lost me. The emotional connection I wanted to feel for the characters kept being interrupted.

Though I still kept an open mind and was hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised that I'll love this movie by the end of it, but unfortunately, it just kept going the same kind of direction till the movie was over.

I've been looking forward to this, and even with my expectations being reasonable and not too high, I still didn't get what I wanted.

And just to be clear, I'm not comparing this to Hitchcock's version. In fact, I've never even seen it. So this is solely based on the execution of the story in this specific movie. It simply didn't do it for me.

With no knowledge of the original novel or the Hitchcock adaptation, I had a sense of intrigue in the build up to watching Rebecca. Sadly, for all the impressiveness of the costumes and locations, the current 5.8 rating is about right. I found myself watching and waiting for something to happen, rather than actually being engrossed in the story. It is rather dull and fragmented, with little suspense and characters you come to care little about. There seems to be little or no repercussions for anyone's actions, and the ending is rushed and cut to pieces. It felt like there was more story to tell but even two hours wasn't enough to fit it all in. Maybe a TV adaptation would have been a better idea....

I don't understand why you would attempt to remake a film who's shoes are just too big to fill.

First off the film looks great especially the scenes in France and the story is good but that is the source materials fault not anyone involved with this film.

I thought it was pretty bland apart from the points above. The characters were just so blah. I literally cared more about Clarice the maid than the lead characters. She seemed nice which is at least an adjective, I can't really think of any adjectives to describe Mr and Mrs de Winters. So that tells you something.

I was really looking forward to the costumes too but for the most part I was let down. They stuck Mrs de Winter in like dumpy hats and cardigans that you could go and pick up from H & M. I don't understand this choice. In the Hitchcock film they give her interesting dresses and stylish tops. I was so confused.

I also don't believe the reviews that say this captures old Hollywood. I didn't feel it, it 100% felt like a 2020 film. If you want a old Hollywood movie just go and watch one.

I would honestly skip it, it was pretty confused. The first chunk of the movie felt like full romance but then it shifts into like a boring drama then it's all like Frankensteined together with horror tropes like "jump scares". It had no point of view.

With such a great cast, I expected this to be a better movie. I don't know if it was a poor screenplay or muddy direction but the film felt hectic, choppy and melodramatic. I'm sorry to say I haven't read the novel by Daphne du Maurier, which has been such a perennial favourite that it has never been out of print, and, the Hitchcock version of the book won an Oscar in 1940. So, I'm going to hazard a guess it is not the source matter. It's too bad to have wasted the talents of Lily James, Armie Hammer and Kristin Scott Thomas (and a small role for Keeley Hawes). I give this film a 5 (off) out of 10. {Mystery}