Coyotes

Had some bad effects that really ruined the immersion. Alaywas good to see justin long in a movie but this was not it. It had a lot of pacing issues and I feel the script was just not good enough to really be a movie. Felt forced in a lot of ways and in the end it just ended up mid. I dont even know if the concept is movie worthy.

It promises a tense survival thriller but delivers only half the bite. While the setup, a wealthy family trapped by wildfires and hunted by coyotes, has potential, the execution feels uneven.

The suspense works in parts, and Justin Long gives a decent performance. The digital coyotes, meant to be menacing, often look artificial and drain the tension from key scenes.

Overall, it's a decent one-time watch with a few gripping moments, but not enough to leave a lasting impression.

Hollywood's at it again, churning out films where men/husbands are portrayed as incompetent geeks or worse, while women/wives are these perfect, brave heroes who always do the right thing. It's lazy writing-packed with repetitive, illogical choices that scream corny. The drama tries way too hard-like, painfully forced moments that don't hit. AI coyote visuals? Surprisingly decent, almost future-proof. Acting's okay, comedy's hit-or-miss with a few chuckles early on, but it fizzles. Effects look like they cost something, with solid fire scenes, but the whole thing feels lackluster. Script's the weak link-old-school horror vibe at times, but mostly just meh.

Update: there was an excellent jump scare that I recall, and there was actually some good horror style effects so I bumped the score up.

Well, the coyotes (and some of the family photos) definitely look AI-generated. I'm not in favour of this becoming normalized in movies (also a middle finger to all the ChatGPT copy-paste reviewers!), so that part really didn't get me excited. Some of the character silliness and one-liners worked, and even when I didn't care for what the leads were constantly up to, I wanted them to survive the proceedings. There are some solid practical effects on display too, when the film isn't busy giving us a fake-looking fire and weirdly proportioned coyotes.

Justin Long is a natural baddie (in recent times, at least), so when he plays a dad who wants to "do better for his family," it's oddly interesting. That he and Kate Bosworth are married in real life also makes the plot, set in Hollywood of all places, add some amusing realism. Brittany Allen, the director's real-life partner and composer, also expectedly shows up in a supporting role. I enjoyed the split screens, but not the (over)use of AI.

Justin Long has been in some questionable movies, so maybe this should have been an indicator as to how this movie would go....

The writing is diabolical. Diabolical! I don't want to give any spoilers, but you will laugh at some of the coyote situations.

The family scenes are so cringeworthy and embarrassing that it feels more like a cheesy tv series (like Z-Nation, which actually gets away with it) than a movie co-starring Kate Bosworth. This movie does not reflect well on her either by the way.

The plot is questionable from the outset, and implausible throughout.

This is not one of those it's so bad it's good movies. It's just plain painful.