The synopsis for the 2021 thriller "Ryad 19" (aka "Row 19") sounded interesting, and I also liked the movie's cover. I had not heard about this thriller from writer James Rabb and director Alexander Babaev prior to sitting down to watch it, so I didn't know what I was in for here.
Well, this movie was unique. Let's just call it that. But I didn't find it particularly enjoyable or entertaining. The movie's storyline felt like a collection of the writer's nightmares penned down on paper and given to the director. Much of it didn't really make much of any sense, and felt like random fragments shot independently by different directors that weren't working on the same script. So there was a sense of chaotic randomness and a lack of coherent red thread throughout the course of the movie.
Visually then "Ryad 19" was good, but special effects and CGI is only worth so much without a proper storyline forming around them. And "Ryad 19" was lacking just that.
The acting performances in "Ryad 19" were good, despite the fact that the storyline felt like rubbish to me. I wasn't familiar with the cast at all in this movie.
I didn't finish this movie, because I simply gave up on the storyline as it fell short of capturing my interesting. So it was somewhat of a swing and a miss from writer James Rabb and director Alexander Babaev.
My rating of "Ryad 19" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.