10s Movie Review - Hold the Dark

Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 125 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 51: A MOVIE SET IN WINTER

Description: After the deaths of three children suspected ro be killed by wolves, writer Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) is hired by the mother (Riley Keough) of a missing six-year-old boy to trach down and locate her son in the Alaskan wilderness.

Review: In chilly and icy Alaska, director Jeremy Saulnier finds a background that makes his characters unpredictable. So when Russell Core, a wolf expert, arrives there to assist a mother whose son was taken by wolves, he doesn’t realize what he’s getting into. A loose soldier, a trigger-happy Indian and a mother whose isolation seems to transform her into some kind of wandering demon are not immediately pleasant company, however. The quiet Core fortunately finds an ally in the stable sheriff, but both soon prove defenseless. The darkness, the snow, the wolves and the void prove maddening and relentless.
 
The plot is draped around the atmospheric location and therefore just flutters. For example, the mother character is not particularly strong developed even though her actions should function as the story’s starting point. “Hold the Dark’’ seeks to reflect on the state of the human spirit in an environment that seems to be consumed by time and nature, but the attention quickly turns to be dormant tension and gory actions for lack of depth, giving this movie the allure of an action thriller rather than a haunting psychological drama.
 
“Hold the Dark” holds the attention, though you’re not sure what you’re looking at. The cleverly staged narrative takes shape in thoughtful compositions of light and shadow, in which actions are unpredictable. But it’s the action packed moments that stick with you more than the understated psyche. Promising, yet not quite successful.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 1: The Lone Ranger

Director: Gore Verbinski

Genre: Action/ Adventure

Runtime: 149 minutes

Year: 2013

Starring: Armie Hammer, Johnny Depp, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, James Badge Dale, Barry Pepper, Helena Bonham Carter

Description: Native American warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice.

Review: Johnny Depp and Jerry Bruckheimer wanted to do another epic film, after the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Something that would speak to both young and old. The popular radio show “The Lone Ranger” caught their attention. Later the show was turned into a television series, but a movie adaptation hadn’t been made yet. Bruckheimer and Depp hoped that with some of the Pirates magic and a big budget they would succeed. Well, they didn’t.

The old Indian Tonto tells the story of John Reid and how they met. When Reid’s brother is killed by bad guy Butch Cavendish, Reid wants revenge. He doesn’t want to kill Cavendish, because that’s not like Reid, but he wants justice. Tonto advices him to wear a Zorro like mask and together with his white cowboy hat his costume is complete and he starts working as the Lone Ranger.

Gore Verbinski made a somewhat confusing film. On one hand it looks like a kids film. The scenes with Tonto are humorous and sometimes like a silent film. Depp manages to create a quirky character, like he did with Jack Sparrow. But sometimes Verbinski choses to leave out the comedy completely and the film turns into this serious western.

Sadly they choose “The Lone Ranger” to be so serious at times and the film is very long too. The action sequences do look great from time to time, like the train scene in the first half hour. The film should be either an adventurous film with humor or a serious western. Now, the film doesn’t really find its direction.

Rating: 2/ 5