User reviews

Too simple. Too many unnecessary scenes to make-up over simplicistic plots.

It seems the protagonist purposely accept and asking for his destiny although that just the opposite of his character, with corny progress. I guess that's the moral of the story.

I like his condescending look, kind of similar with the natural cast of Ralph. With almost knowing of how it's all gonna end, makes the movie purposeless even disappointing, also ironically bland if the end will be the other way. So after all, scenes can be reimagined by more dramatic. Because style over dramatization is failing for this movie.

Complete garbage. IMDB score of 5.1 is too high.plot was confusing and motivation of characters was questionable as well. For a cast this strong this was bad.

My goodness this makes no sense. The plot is senseless and is a waste of the talents of these actors. You are really endeared no one and literally not cheering anyone on to be the hero! You are watching and waiting for it to be good. But, that is never going to happen! It is about excess for no good reason. Even excess and negative motivation in the have-nots. Don't pay for this movie...just don't. You will thank me later when it is available for free on your streaming or cable platform.

It's difficult to know what writer/director (John Michael McDonough) was trying to convey with this production. It's about a group of highly unlikeable (in fact totally despicable) privileged whites, gathering together for a grossly decadent 'party' in a most unlikely place...an isolated semi-palace in the middle of the Moroccan desert. With scant knowledge about the hosts or their guests, we are simply expected to put up with their all too obviously unsubtle vulgar language and generally vile behaviour, as they settle into a weekend of grotty debauchery.

Drugs, booze, and sex are all part of the sleaze on offer while being attended to by local Moroccan servants -- all who seem to view their employers and guests as worthless rubbish-- which the filmmakers go out of their way to demonstrate. The activities of these privileged whites are served up as gross sensationalism that's bent toward manipulating our view of them as worthless - while all the Muslim servants are presented as angelic - that alone is conjuring up a theme of deliberate racial hatred for little reason other than the sake of it. Is this the sole point of this movie; is there nothing of any other purpose here?

At one point a local teenager is killed in a somewhat careless accident, this produces the film's best segment. The father of the boy (played with intensity by Ismael Kanater) requests the perpetrator to go with him while he buries his son, causing much anxiety, but the outcome of this can only be viewed as somewhat peculiar in the extreme. This might have been a modern classic with a more rounded and balanced script but falls way short.

The visual quality is evident and the cast clearly hand-picked, there's an effective atmospheric music score courtesy of Lorne Balfe but how much of Lawrence Osborne's novel remains within the screen play (seems to have serious omissions) If the object of this project was to generate hatred for whites, it's done its dirty job but will this help any of the worlds social relationships heal? I very much doubt it.

Best Quote: offered by a Moroccan servant after witnessing a blatant act of adultery by a female guest; "A woman with no discretion is like a gold ring through a pigs snout" (no, not Moroccan wisdom as this pic would have you believe but Proverbs 11:22.

The film tried too hard to teach a moral lesson and it did not land. Kept wanting for something to happen or for it to end.

The trailer did a great job in reeling you in, but when it came to it, after the plot is set in the first 20 minutes, the remaining hour and 40 minutes didn't do anything to bring else to the table. I was left unamused and bored, wishing the time away. I was quite surprised as the cast was promising, as was the initial dialogue, but the film was far from it. It flatlined very quickly and it wasn't brought back to life. What a waste of time and money producing this film...

I can now say with certainty that Ralph Fiennes has been the star of two of the most boring movies ever made. Between this borefest and the English Patient I think he owes me about six hours of my life back. This movie also had the beautiful Jessica Chastain, but that couldn't save it. The least the director could have done was show Jessica nude when she cheated on her husband. That would have been worth watching. I found myself skipping through the movie because I was so bored. How this movie can have a 6,1 on IMDB baffles me. I guess that proves that there are many phony reviews on this site.