Songwriter_90210

I made a mistake.

I was looking for a monster movie and missed the subtleness of this film. On second watch it became something different. I realized that it's not really a monster movie and not intended to be one.

It's a film about the quest for life, even if there's only a bit of it left. There's enough monster stuff, but there's also love, heart, the care for others in difficult times, and what it means to be human and unselfish.

Of course John Krasinski would write about that. It was wonderfully acted, and mature. It was advertised as more of a thrill ride and an origin story for the Aliens, and the first time I watched it I was disappointed. I expected something different than this film gave me, and I panned it. For good reason, I thought.

But something told me to watch it again, open-minded. As a love story. That's when I got the true nature of the film.

You may not agree, and that's fine. However I think this is possibly Lupita N'yongo's best role.

My hope with this film was that it would be deeply engrossing and a unique character study. It is a bit thin on both counts.

The actual character building, even with some back stories, albeit brief, was just fine but I couldn't shake the feeling that instead of fireworks, we got sparklers. The acting, especially from Norman Reedus and Michael Shannon, was very good. Tom Hardy was methodical yet consistent, and the two other main characters - well, one overacted, and the other underacted. If you see it, you may agree.

I guess I wanted to see more of an adventure, and what I got was a two wheeled version of Boyz in the Hood. But with much less hood, and many more boys.

I wanted to care about the characters, but when you give one of the main characters a ton of dialogue delivered in an odd, rehearsed-sounding way (better suited for the stage than a movie), and you give another main character almost nothing to say, you don't develop a real connection with them. So you don't (at least I don't) care what happens to them.

The period is cool, the bikes are fantastic, the cinematography is bland, and the anticipations are non-existent. They say things are going to happen, then they happen. No suspense, no build up. Few surprises.

I wanted this to be a film I would watch over and over, but that's not going to happen.

Let's start with what this movie isn't. It's not trying to win an Academy Award or garner praise from the big reviewers. It's purely a movie to have fun with and take a little time away from negative news cycles, and the mundanity of daily life.

It's fun. It does have unbelievable moments and contrived plot twists, but even when you can see the inevitable from a mile away, it's still nice to see that result.

The best parts for me are Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt's chemistry, and they're both such likable people. I mean, who doesn't like them?

I never wished something different had happened in the plot, because it's not a deep murder mystery or plot-heavy thriller. T's all about spending a couple of hours rooting for the good guy.

I'm of the belief that not every movie has to be a 10 to be entertaining. Most aren't 10s anyway, And usually they're the one's that try a lot harder than this one does.

I don't feel like it's a time-waster, and you may not either.