And Soon the Darkness

Good things first, some very nice cinematography of the landscapes. Cool looking deserted town that looks like something from a nuclear holocaust. Now that's out of the the way, on to the bad...

Clichéd characters. The Ellie character is just plain annoying and whilst I'm not a prude her behaviour just invited trouble - she's in an unknown country surrounded by strangers and acts like a complete whore. The good guy character hints at some promise but is taken out of the equation too easily. No inventiveness applied here, nothing you haven't seen a million times. Plus the female leads look like famine victims, especially Ellie - neither of them would have had the strength to fight off any kind of attack. I don't know if this is what Hollywood considers sexy nowadays but if so you can keep it.

Only rent if there is absolutely nothing else.

A woman goes missing on a bike trip around Argentina and her friend desperately searches to find her.

This is a fairly familiar tale as two naive girls find out the hard way that if you're traveling around a strange country you need your wits about you.

The Argentinian setting at least makes a pleasant change from normal USA thrillers and there is some nice cinematography. Amber Heard does a good job as the woman looking for her friend evoking the sense of desperation you'd feel looking for someone in a foreign country. Karl Urban as the man helping her is likable if a little wooden.

Based on the relatively low IMDb rating ( currently 5.2) I wasn't expecting too much. In truth although nothing outstanding this is fairly engrossing and at times tense thriller. It does at least try and spring a few surprises that you don't see coming.

The ending is fairly predictable but this is still a fairly enjoyable ride.

Pretty much every horror title these days is getting a low score almost on every critic sites , To me it is very sad because most of us don't even read the critic review ,we just watch the score the movie got and decide whether to watch it or not. I think this movie is one of those movies that no one really got to see because it has low score . If you look closely it has pretty nice cast in it , Yes Amber Heard and Odette Annable are beautiful actresses but hey also got nice acting skills . The plot is pretty unique , i mean i personally haven't seen movie with this story before and i found this story interesting. This movie has clichés in it but still it is very fun to watch and it doesn't get boring all along... I think its underrated and i would recommend it to every one since its mostly Mystery title , i wouldn't call it a solid horror.

The only good thing about this movie is the editing, the camera work and the sound. The acting is okay, but the plot is shallow. The promise of twists is totally unfulfilled. It is predictable and rather pointless. What a shame. It is one of those movies that seems to have something, but you wait and watch and nothing happens. There is very little to say about the movie. I had to add this filler just so that the review could be accepted for having 10 lines of text. The characterisation is shallow. I suppose the scenery in some of the scenes is rather interesting. But other than that, this is a complete waste of your time.

Two young American women (Amber Heard and Odette Yustman) are biking around Argentina. It is a fun adventure, at least until one of them gets kidnapped. Can the other track down the kidnapper and save her friend? Who can she trust?

This film is a remake of a 1970 British thriller. For all intents and purposes, the connection could be overlooked and the film would be just fine. While some things were kept the same -- the bicycling, lack of subtitles and a shot of a plane overhead -- much of it was changed. The setting has moved from France to Argentina, the girls' names were changed, and there is a whole new dynamic. This film could have stood on its own.

Writer-director Marcos Efron truly does make it his own film, and it helps to have two of today's finest young stars in the lead roles. Amber Heard, at the time of this film's release, was already known and about to be more well-known alongside Johnny Depp and Nic Cage. Odette Yustman, perhaps less well-known, is still a star in her own right.

The film is tense, suspenseful, better-paced than the original, with beautiful color and scenery. There is a sexy element, but no outright sex. There is a violent element, but no outright gore. The film is R, but could get by with what I would call a "hard PG-13". Even the torture aspects never enter into the "torture porn" realm of "Saw" or "Hostel", or even "Turistas", and I give this film credit for that, staying firmly in "thriller" rather than "horror" territory.

While I would not give it a must-see, mandatory recommendation, it is a great thriller and one of the better films I have seen in a while. I never get sick of seeing Heard or Yustman, especially when they are in their swimsuits. This film earns a B, maybe a B-plus. The Anchor Bay DVD is also loaded with special features.