Greta

The first half of this film is really good. The suspense builds throughout and a good story develops. Then, a scenario occurs in which there is only one obvious course of action and when the protagonists inexplicably do something else, all interest in the movie is lost because, from that point on, you will be distracted by the question "Why have they not just....?"

The acting was great and there was definitely some real suspense created but also a lot of cliche and unbelievable things occurred (mostly things secondary to the plot actually). I felt that the movie could have been shorter/ended earlier. Overall though the movie was very well acted and enjoyable. Left with a slightly different (and more cautious) view of the world.

Poor, unimaginative and illogical script. Protagonists continuously made unrealistically silly decisions and everything always end up with the worst possible result. I know we have to suspend disbelief to enjoy works of fiction but come on...there still needs to be a semblance in reality of how folks make decisions and odds play out. Sequence of events were so far fetched that it was obvious the writer/s were simply trying to keep story going to fill an average movie run time. The mere fact that victim, a younger and fitter female can not overcome the villain, an old and frail lady, sums up the irrationality of this film.

A patchy and irregular film crippled by a script written on a tiny Post-It with a few completely far-fetched plot twists that I will leave untold so as not spoil the movie. The cast of this American film is notably composed of Isabelle Huppert, one of the most famous and talented French actresses, with Romy Schneider, Catherine Deneuve, Stéphane Audran, Simone Signoret or Marion Cotillard. Although she is gorgeous, she vainly tries to save this literally incredible movie, not to mention Colm Feore or Stephen Rea, two secondary actors in this movie that we do not see often enough on the screens. With a scriptwriter worthy of the profession, the film would have been significantly better. Moreover, I have really a hard time recognizing the style of the director of Fine di una storia (1999), Intervista col vampiro (1994) or La moglie del soldato (1992). As a synthesis: frustrating and disappointing.

Fairly straightfoward and predictable, but nonetheless Huppert brings a chilling performance as the unhinged title character that may make you wary of helping strangers out from now on.

The big reveal is spoiled in the trailers, and it come pretty early on. It would've been better had it been delayed a little, after the 2 characters had spent more time together and a few scenes of Greta acting crazy at times to have Frances grow some suspicion.

But the main problem is how illogical/stupid the other characters are, beginning with Frances either unable or unwilling to block Greta's number despite the obvious problems, and upping the ante with the ending.

All the ridiculousness is summed up one face-palm worthy quote: "What do we tell the police?" Gee, what actually happened might be a good idea.