The Apology

Last night for New Year's Eve I watched two movies back to back, as I had just come out of hospital and had to take it easy.

The first movie I watched was The Apology. Now only knowing the basic story line and nothing else I settled down.

The film contained roughly three actors or less at the most on screen, this can be good if there is any tension in the film.

The two main actors, Linus Roache and Anna Gunn we're excellent in this, the storyline was interesting but what let it down for a much higher score? The script, yes this is what let this film down badly.

Not even thirty minutes in and I guessed what had happened and why Roache was there, especially when he said ' I have something to tell you.' Well if you have many movies like me, you can guess the storyline straight away, having this happen so fast took most of the tension out of the film.

Overall I enjoyed it but this movie. With the right script could have been a great film.

Overall not bad to waste and hour and a half.

This is not a Shudder horror movie, but it is excellent drama by first-class actors around a horrifying subject.

It reminded my husband and me a little of when we first started watching David Mamet's movies. At first, you're a little taken aback, because all of his characters speak in such a way that the words, not the emotional delivery, convey the power of the moment, so that when you first start watching a Mamet film, you think for a moment, "What's wrong with all these people?", and then the magic clicks, and you're entranced.

Not that Locke's style in anyway copies Mamet, it's all her own. Nevertheless, we had a similar experience with this movie. At first, we wondered why these wonderful actors seemed a little awkward, and then suddenly what was being conveyed clicked, and we were caught up.

Excellent film.

I watched most of this film or at least tried to. It's an interesting premise I suppose, but it's also not in a lot of ways. The moment the guys (at the very beginning) car "breaks down" and she doesn't question it at all I knew the script wasn't going to be great.

It's basically a play format. A few characters and A LOT of dialogue. The acting is okay, but it just doesn't go anywhere and I personally didn't care about the outcome, the characters or really the whole story.

Overall, I can't give a full review because I got annoyed with all the yelling and arguing and fake tension I just turned it off to watch the Warriors game. We lost the game, but I won by ending the the struggle of watching this film.

This isn't a horror film. It's barely a thriller. This is a generally a two person play they decided to film. The main character is hosting family Christmas after 20 years. She also lost her daughter, 16, 20 years ago who simply disappeared. Her ex-brother-in-law arrives unexpectedly, and this starts the drama. Unfortunately, the drama is a two person morality play of contrived dialogue and weakest of characterizations. This film triggers a lurid reaction to watch to the end, but only to see if any truth is found. Along the way, information that is meant to shock us is disclosed, and secrets are shared. All leading to the ending that is supposed to build faith in humanity? What I found was grief that goes without processing leads to dissatisfied and unhappy lives. Could have done something better with the 90 minutes.

This is a script which seems to have just gone ahead and filmed the second draft.

Anna Gunn; she's good. She's much more thank Skyler White. Jeneane Garafalo is always worthy of a watch - she's completely wasted here. Linus Roache does a great job playing both sleazy and urbane. That's pretty much been his whole career.

But the dialogue- ugh- way too much exposition and it was all delivered so awkwardly. The writer/director just didn't seem to believe the audience could fill in blanks using context or other means.

Perhaps that was something the producers insisted on?? But, audiences are not stupid (for the most part), and we can gather clues ourselves.

If you're looking for a good single-setting drama, there are far worse out there.