Hope Lost

This film should be trashed, as it's trash.

On the pretext of "exposing" human sex trafficking, we are given a blow-by-blow litany of degrading images of sadism.

Michael Madsen and Mischa Barton must be either desperate, desensitized and swimming in a spiritless artistic swamp or deranged. Maybe all three.

What a terrible reflection on our society that this is portrayed as "entertainment". Shameful.

This was almost a really good movie, and then I'm not sure what happened. I wish they had just kept it a trafficking movie instead of trying to make it about snuff films out of nowhere. Mischa Barton could have been such a strong character, but it's like they didn't let her. The story began to feel false after the abortion foolery scene, and went downhill thereafter... still kinda liked it, but that's probably because I had such low expectations, I saw it's rating beforehand, and also I liked the very end.

A mediocre thriller from 2015. Although there are familiar actors, both the shooting is bad and the handling of the subject is bad. There is a main story but the characters seem to have no stories. The man who says he's a movie director takes pictures of the woman he met at the bar. He says he sent these photos to the producer and he liked them very much. He tricks her into taking her to Rome. Then he sells the girl to a man to become a street prostitute. The girl is put to work with the threat of her younger brother's life and it is said that she will be released if she pays the 30,000 euro debt. There are a lot of girls who are forced to work this way.

It's as if the movie script was brought to a fait accompli without any thought. There is too much exaggeration in the acting.

There is sexuality and nudity in the movie. There is also a footjob scene through pants.

I could pass a test of predictability with full marks on this film, and this is what this film does, walks that path, it's set. Because with these lure pretty girl/comes sex slave movies, we've seen it all before. I was disappointed big with this one, after first seeing the preview, with some hard to stomach themes. It's the last half hour (the snuff part, and those piggy masks are scary, you'll be having a Hostel moment) that's gets disturbing and really intense, with two surprisingly good jolt moments. This is another story about a beautiful Romanian girl, (Agostini, a black haired beauty that shines in the role, she's very good) fed up with her small town existence, looking for a more exciting life of fame and glamour, sold short of her promises, where a more real interminable hell quickly ensues at the hands of some pimps and sadist pornographers, one at the start in disturbing contrast, the real suave, normal Russian producer guy. The poor girls, end up on a death ride, into Snuffland. It's terrible watching all these good actors, reduced or resorting to this bad material. They're (a now beefy Madsen, Trejo, and Daniel Baldwin at his sickest, not bad though, + others) such a bunch of perverted scumbags, all here for show, you just want to shoot or make really suffer. I'm going with the latter. You'll be happy how one, the young raping guy, gets it, another unfortunately getting away. Misha Barton (God, this was that little girl in Notting Hill) an older more experienced and strung out pro, who befriends, Agostino, was very good. I can't see how people are rubbishing her, as I thought the accent was very convincing. The actors all do a good job, but Barton and to a lesser extent, Baldwin were the two that stood out. A little bit of sick violence, left in the aftermath, but Hope Lost really came off with amateurish moments, and kind of dulled for a bit or more correctly, cliché'd and dropped pace after the twenty minute mark. Like the 1999 thrill shocker 8MM, much better, or to a smaller extent, Taken, this film again, serves as a reminder, about that big dangerous trap out there, awaiting wannabe starlets who just take off for fame, some who are sadly never seen again. And you're probably wondering about the fates of the girls in these. Again, I was sold short, as I really wanted the end of the film, like the rest of it, to live up to it's title. A kind of spin of originality, was the suss lesbian combat trained customer, Agostino picks up, who becomes the hero and the girl's savior, that first sex scene in the car, I couldn't believe I was witness too. To see the careers of actors, like Madsen, and hauntingly Barton's, to sink to these B movie levels, it is bloody sad. I mean Michael, Skin Traffik, now this. Where did we wrong Mr Blonde? On the a whole, a disappointing, messy, 8MMetre'ish film, that could of been much better if more thought was poured into the project, as seeing the last 25 minutes is higher platform with nerve shredding suspense, and intensity. How sad.

With one overwhelmingly positive and overwhelmingly negative review on the books, I will take the middle ground on this polarizing film - much like the * ratings so far, there is very little consistency. As the 1-Star reviewer indicated, there is very little positive in this movie. Where I disagree with them is that the world isn't all sunshine and lollipops - therefore why should our cinema? Hostel and Saw are in no way pleasant movies, yet are highly regarded in their genre.

While calling this "entertainment" is an extremely debatable and subjective, the fact is that the movie accomplishes what it sets out to achieve. I don't know the reality of what's in here - which makes me quite happy (sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss) - but it's portrayed in an extremely viable way, with acting that is quite strong, and actually far above expectations given the B-list lineup. And in all fairness, there are many things this movie could have done to push the torture-porn boundary, but it is really quite scaled back with more effort paid to character and motivation.

While certainly not a masterpiece in any sense of the word, but if you're a fan of the genre, it is a quality addition to the group. If you're not, then simply avoid.