madman-63862

This film is basically a caricature of the original. It seems like a jokey deep dive into the characters where the mystery of them is what makes them intriguing in the first place. The action scenes seem inserted to live up to the audience expectations. The rest of the film seems like there is a wink and nod joke that the writers, director and actors are sharing at the audiences expense.

There are some parts that are completely unnecessary and seem forced and it is glaring. For the most part its gun porn. For an industry that is supposedly anti-gun they sure rely on them for everything that they do. Affleck is also seemingly poking fun at autistic people rather than accurately portraying one in the same vain as he did in the first film.

Bernthal's Braxton is a whiny, bitchy psychopath that no one should be rooting for under any circumstance. If anyone remembers he was a paid murderer in the first film.

The character of Medina is a corrupt law enforcement official who apparently is a reluctant crusader who obtained her job and rose through the ranks through subterfuge and collusion with hired killers and criminals. Again, Hollywood embraces the thing that they rail against and it is just supposed to be a pill the watcher swallows.

If I was to stand back and look at this objectively, I want to say that they made this movie specifically to avoid a third. Its essentially a money grab the studio wanted but the "creatives" wanted to put to bed. They just didn't count on the fall in line critics to rate it high. Ultimately its just unnecessary.

Overly stylized garbage that tries to be something its not, good. This film is a shoddy, predictable derivative collection of disturbing images and jump scares with zero substance. It attempts to be a psychological thriller that misses every mark. It then turns to rely on a supernatural element that is a crutch for misguided and poor writing. Nicolas Cages performance is so bad that it is borderline parody if it wasn't so stupid. You can see the attempts to make it controversial but it's just hokey frivolous junk. Every element is laughable and not in a good way. I am kind of shocked this was even made. This is Cages attempt to portray Hannibal Lecter without the class or talent. Lets face it too she ain't no Clarice Starling and this ain't Silence of the Lambs. Its ambitions are not fulfilled and you are left with a sloppy messy pile of garbage.