Hope Lost

This film should be trashed, as it's trash.

On the pretext of "exposing" human sex trafficking, we are given a blow-by-blow litany of degrading images of sadism.

Michael Madsen and Mischa Barton must be either desperate, desensitized and swimming in a spiritless artistic swamp or deranged. Maybe all three.

What a terrible reflection on our society that this is portrayed as "entertainment". Shameful.

Sorry, to all involved and to those who like me, decided to watch this till the end.

Micheal, what the eff dude! Mischa, what the eff? Why?!?!

Anyway, I turned it off at the abortion scene, and for an awful reason decided to continue watching it. Nope. Nothing more to see.

I can appreciate the artistic nature of all film, especially this one, but dude... I don't know man. I don't know.

Mindboggling. How it started, and where it went, and how it ended, are you trying to depict real life? Well real life doesn't blend well with classic movie twists. Pick one. Argh!! Dude, I'm actually upset at the makers of this thing now. The more I think about it, the more I want to punch something.

I could pass a test of predictability with full marks on this film, and this is what this film does, walks that path, it's set. Because with these lure pretty girl/comes sex slave movies, we've seen it all before. I was disappointed big with this one, after first seeing the preview, with some hard to stomach themes. It's the last half hour (the snuff part, and those piggy masks are scary, you'll be having a Hostel moment) that's gets disturbing and really intense, with two surprisingly good jolt moments. This is another story about a beautiful Romanian girl, (Agostini, a black haired beauty that shines in the role, she's very good) fed up with her small town existence, looking for a more exciting life of fame and glamour, sold short of her promises, where a more real interminable hell quickly ensues at the hands of some pimps and sadist pornographers, one at the start in disturbing contrast, the real suave, normal Russian producer guy. The poor girls, end up on a death ride, into Snuffland. It's terrible watching all these good actors, reduced or resorting to this bad material. They're (a now beefy Madsen, Trejo, and Daniel Baldwin at his sickest, not bad though, + others) such a bunch of perverted scumbags, all here for show, you just want to shoot or make really suffer. I'm going with the latter. You'll be happy how one, the young raping guy, gets it, another unfortunately getting away. Misha Barton (God, this was that little girl in Notting Hill) an older more experienced and strung out pro, who befriends, Agostino, was very good. I can't see how people are rubbishing her, as I thought the accent was very convincing. The actors all do a good job, but Barton and to a lesser extent, Baldwin were the two that stood out. A little bit of sick violence, left in the aftermath, but Hope Lost really came off with amateurish moments, and kind of dulled for a bit or more correctly, cliché'd and dropped pace after the twenty minute mark. Like the 1999 thrill shocker 8MM, much better, or to a smaller extent, Taken, this film again, serves as a reminder, about that big dangerous trap out there, awaiting wannabe starlets who just take off for fame, some who are sadly never seen again. And you're probably wondering about the fates of the girls in these. Again, I was sold short, as I really wanted the end of the film, like the rest of it, to live up to it's title. A kind of spin of originality, was the suss lesbian combat trained customer, Agostino picks up, who becomes the hero and the girl's savior, that first sex scene in the car, I couldn't believe I was witness too. To see the careers of actors, like Madsen, and hauntingly Barton's, to sink to these B movie levels, it is bloody sad. I mean Michael, Skin Traffik, now this. Where did we wrong Mr Blonde? On the a whole, a disappointing, messy, 8MMetre'ish film, that could of been much better if more thought was poured into the project, as seeing the last 25 minutes is higher platform with nerve shredding suspense, and intensity. How sad.

I realize that people still think film is primarily for entertainment, when rather much of the "fiction" is art depicting life directly from the conscience of those creating the film. So if the goal is to walk away from the film satisfied that you will be thoroughly entertained, you will indeed be disappointed.

Some of the reviews stated there were "violent scenes for no reason." The suffering instituted by human trafficking was depicted in all it's horrific and pointless tragedy. Snuff films are not urban myths.

The average human psyche cannot conceive of the evils done in the dark. The film, whether glorifying it for those initiated in the knowledge, or raising awareness of how women, men, and children are brutally lured, kidnapped, and enslaved probably does both. That's the dialect here.

I'm still about the execution of well-developed screenplays and fluid storylines, so 6 stars was a fair assessment. The actors portray their roles as they are understood to operate in the trafficking system as of 2015. Check. Snuff films, still found on the dark web. Check. Acting was sufficient to help the audience open or keep their eyes wide shut to the darkness of the world. Given this was released again for 2020, I suspect it is about raising awareness to what I hope is an end to this Satanic system of torture and enslavement of humanity.

You can't fault Hope Lost for not delivering the title. This is not an action or investigation movie, both elements are present here but in very minute scale. Hope Lost is a depiction of human trafficking and sex slavery down to its gritty nature. While I don't object the dark tone in the genre and the film does have a couple of refined moments, for the most parts it's a string of cruel acts towards frail ladies and this is definitely not for everyone.

Sofia (Francesca Agostini) is a young woman who is promised fame and job by a stranger, as one might expect this is a bait to lure her into forced prostitution. Almost the entire movie is her struggle, meeting with violent mogul, dubious clients and another of the same fate. For what it's worth Francesca Agostini has performed admirably. Her portrayal of damsel in distress and overall material make it very easy to sympathize with her ordeal.

The rest of cast is mainstay of action movie such as Michael Madsen and Danny Trejo. It's admittedly awkward seeing them in such heavy theme, for those expecting over-the-top gunslinging action, there's little to none here. Pacing is rather slow, with large portion of the film spent of twisted deeds. It's not much of detective work either, it may look like noir flick but it provides no in-depth thriller aspect. The film simply portrays the heinous nature of the crime, abundantly so.

With tons of malicious scenes, it's really hard to digest. A few of these are realistically authentic, resembling the works of documentary channel, yet it often strays to pointless violence with repetitive torture. It may want to deliver a strong message, although it's hard to see the film be accessible to casual viewer or even fans of action or crime genre.

The good acting and sense of realism might earn merit, but with such horrendous displays of cruelty, Hope Lost is clearly not for casual consumption.