Into the Labyrinth

I am not usually leaving reviews here but i honestly think that this movie is underrated. It kept me excited for the full 2 hours, something that nowadays hardly a movie manages.

A kidnapped girl is found 15 years after her abduction. A celebrated psychiatrist is trying to deal with her trauma and a retired detective who only has hours to live is ready to put it all on the line to find a vicious killer. Will he be able to succeed? And who is the real villain?

Donato Carrisi adapts his rather complex and at times convoluted plot to a film that makes surprising sense. That alone is an achievement. This is chronologically the third book in the series which makes it a particularly difficult adaptation. The good news - it works out well.

Writers rarely makes good directors. Carrisi is an exception. Choosing carefully his colour pallet he nods to the "giallo" sub-genre of the 80s and draws inspiration from the likes of Dario Argento (Suspiria). The whole movie feels like a dream-like sequence, although it is more procedural crime fiction than anything else.

What makes the movie feel focused is its great performances. Dustin Hoffman as Dr Green who is trying to get into the mind of a beautiful victim and Toni Servillo (THE GREAT BEAUTY) as a dying detective who has made it his life goal to catch the killer, carry the film on their shoulders. The story has an episodic structure and echoes heavily the SAW franchise, although, I am sure, Carrisi would be devastated to hear of the comparison. What he has been trying to create with his books (and films) is a serial killer cinematic universe. INTO THE LABYRINTH may not be the best start, but it definitely has the potential to becoming a mystery to remember.

Very interesting story & plot. The characters are not so likable, I think because the script is so mysterious & full of secrets. Now the confusing part, you must watch it twice to understand the whole story; it feels like there are two parallel ones & they meet at the end. The time is kinda irrelevant as the plot shifts alot at the end. It also gave me Sin City "vibes".

Whether you can figure out where the movie will lead you or whether the split narrative excites you enormously ... well that will be up to you. The movie has great actors for sure - and there are hints I reckon that are telling you where it goes. Because you may second guess certain things, but the movie also hints if you are right about that - or your suspicions in general.

The structure is well thought of, but it also leaves certain things on the floor. No pun intended ... there is a lot of mystery and I feel the movie had way more potential that it actually was able to dig out and really explore. Even so, it is well told it is more than a decent thriller and it is "fun" to watch.

Certainly not bad. I was captivated throughout the movie. But I just didn't get it, yet I got a proper education. Maybe there is some high brow meta explanation that the story itself is a labyrinth? Maybe it is about the psyche of people that experience a trauma and make up an imaginary reality? I don't know where they were going with this as I did not get why half the movie was in Italian and the other part in English.