Terrible music ruins the film!
- Domino review by CP Customer
Some really good actors but had to turn it off after 30 minutes because of the terrible music, very load Orchestral music, it was like watching an old black and white Charlie Chaplin movie. Totally ruined the film, I've seen thousands of films and this is the first time I have had to turn a film off because of the music.
3 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
About as gripping a another Brexit debate
- Domino review by SG
Poor stuff Mr de Palma. After 'Untouchables' this film simply is a non starter. Weak acting, poor action sequences and Guy Pearce phoning in his performance all really make this a lame flick. Go to B&Q, get some paint and watch it dry for a more immersive experience.
PS I didn't like this movie.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Disappointing De Palma
- Domino review by Alphaville
This Euro-based thriller from Brian De Palma was reportedly hacked down to 86 minutes by the producers and is one of his most disappointing. It’s hard to see how it could ever be any good, with a dud of a screenplay that sags irretrievably in the middle as the good guys drive endlessly around Europe. They’re after an Islamic terrorist in a plot that feels totally at odds with De Palma’s trademark lush camerawork and an equally lush soundtrack that could have been composed by Bernard Hermann himself (which some reviewers here don’t seem to get).
The opening set-piece at least is vintage De Palma, with a rooftop chase paying homage to Hitchcock’s Vertigo, but it’s downhill from then on. Even the book-ending set-piece at a bullfight is drawn out to little effect, despite a Bolero-type orchestral crescendo intended to build up tension. Perhaps the reportedly low budget didn’t help. Every De Palma film has his beautiful camerawork going for it, and it’s good to see him still working well into his 70s, but this is nowhere near his best work.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Intriguing, albeit flawed
- Domino review by NP
Surprisingly interesting and fun! I was not a fan at all of his last film, Passion, which I thought lacked the subversive wit and panache of De Palma when he's on form, and which is quite often back in evidence here. There's something spectacularly tasteless about making a Hitchcockian chase movie centred on Isis and domestic terrorism, but De Palma makes the inherent schlockiness of the material work in his favour, leaning into the tensions between the subject matter and the execution to make a disturbing commentary on the way Islamist extremism feeds on and becomes a warped version of online celebrity, as exemplified in the hilarious moment when a suicide bomber grins stupidly as he waits for a drone to descend into the bull ring and capture his 'close-up'.
Sure, its shoestring budget is all-too-apparent, and the choppy editing and abruptly sidelined characters expose the troubled production history, but it's notable that De Palma can still put together a more memorable set-piece with all of this against him than most filmmakers can muster with Hollywood backing.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.
whats with the weird backing music!
- Domino review by sw
im only half way though the film and the backing music is sooooo annoying! ive started flicking though now to see the end. script is bad and boring, the cast is good but the acting is bad.
i cant think of any films to compare it too, the backing music reminds me of old black and white murder mystery films.
sorry this review isnt very helpful but i was looking forward to it and very disappointed so had to write something.
0 out of 1 members found this review helpful.