The Merciful

I didn't know much about The Merciful going in, and at first I wasn't sure what to make of it, especially in relation to the style and genre, but once I settled into its rhythm and got a feel for what this movie was about, I started to appreciate what it was going for.

It's clear the filmmakers cared about what they were making. The world feels lived-in, the lighting is natural and grounded, and there's a raw honesty to the way it's shot. Some scenes stuck with me more than I expected.

It's not going to be for everyone, but it's a thoughtful piece of work that's you can tell the creators put a lot of work and thought into.

By the time I decided to abandon this watch, I had invested too much curiosity and popcorn and let it drag me to the finish line. I should have cut my losses and bailed. The acting was very mediocre and the plot was meaningless, confirming my first 15 minute reaction. I kept thinking the monotony would end any minute but it just wouldn't go away. Every time it appeared to pick up steam the fire went out and left me wanting. By now I was like a moth attracted to the flame and just couldn't pry myself out of my seat. At one point I thought it was ending but lo and behold, no such luck. It finally reached an uneventful "is that all there is" point, leaving me underwhelmed.

"...but that doesn't happen" (from the film's IMDB teaser summary) is as terse and almost as uninformative as the deluge of expletives that come flushing through the main character's ("Hey" portrayed by the writer/director) mouth. Perhaps, the author of the summary believed providing anymore detail would scare away an audience already experiencing indigestion from over consumption of a particular sub-genre of film. Something like "A depressed, guilt-ridden man seeking refuge and resolution in a snow blanketed wilderness reluctantly rescues a young woman fleeing a hunter from her mountain based 'community'," would probably provide a bigger draw. Note the lack of spoilers or even a hint of what the story is really about.

Of course, a lead in phrase such as "In this deliberately paced adventure tale..." though half honest (guess which half) would likely discourage a sizeable number of potential viewers.

Random thought: Whenever the Allison character is on the screen, even if only her color changing hand, she steals the scene.

My rating could have been a smidgeon higher if fractional scores were possible just out of respect for what was assembled on a sub $20K budget.

Worth a watch? Sure.

Will I watch it again? No.

I wasn't expecting much going into this movie, but was pleasantly surprised. Considering that it's a lower budget indie film, the cinematography was beautiful with many scenic landscapes and reminded me of movies like The Revenant.

I was also impressed by how realistic the stunts and guns firing looked. Usually I can spot cgi use pretty quickly, especially in lower budget films, but in this movie, most of it was either really well done, or the stunts were real.

I will say the plot was a little confusing to me at times and I think I missed a few pieces of subtle foreshadowing that may have helped me understand what was happening better, but it didn't ruin it for me.

As someone who doesn't watch many lower budget movies just because I can't take the typically sub par visuals, this movie stands above the rest from that perspective, and I'd recommend giving it a chance.

My history of reviews here at IMDB are probably 80% negative so it's a very welcome relief to finally give praise to a movie that is well deserved.

I am not going to give any spoilers. However, you have to be willing to let the story unfold at its own pace as the dialogue and interaction between the main characters fleshes out they as people and not caricatures. The key to any memorable movie is the characterizations - it wasn't CGI that made Star Wars so long-lived as a franchise - and that's what this movie gets right. But you do have to be willing to spend the time to get to the point where you care and I am glad I did.

Be sure to watch the end credits too. I am really wanting to give more info here but I have found that knowing too much about a movie takes away from your surprise and/or anticipation of what might happen which is why I will not watch trailers. I came in expecting a completely different movie and I am reallu happy I was wrong.