Negative

Was drawn into seeing 'Negative', with a cool poster/cover, a promising trailer, an intriguing premise and as someone with a general appreciation for drama/thrillers. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive.

It is sadly however yet another film seen recently, hence some reiteration because the exact same strengths and flaws are here present in those films, that to me was incredibly disappointing considering its potential which it doesn't do anywhere near enough with. 'Negative' is lacklustre, with so many huge flaws and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There is not much to recommend in 'Negative'.

Lets start with the positives.. The scenery is atmospheric and spooky, and is surprisingly well shot.

'Negative' also starts off promisingly, it does intrigue and it does have creepiness in parts.

There is the odd assured directing touches and Katia Winter is quite good.

Going on to the negatives, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it comes over as vague and under-explained in the last third where the film especially became duller, more predictable, more senseless and less unsettled and never gaining momentum. Too many characters are too sketchy and with nowhere near enough to make one want to endear to them. Their annoying and illogical decision making and behaviours frustrates.

Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it. The effects are ropy at best, the sound quality is obvious and utilised cheaply (being too loud in the build ups and people's reactions) and excepting the quite good Katia Winter the acting isn't great, Sebastian Roche coming off worst, and the chemistry is bland.

Dialogue can be stilted and rambling while the pace and film drags on forever after such an intriguing start and doesn't recover. Even the ending however is botched, due to being so afterthought-like and with no sense of how to end it. Found too many of the supposedly shocking moments not surprising or scary and the supposedly creepy atmosphere dreary, due to the excessive obviousness, a lot of dumb and vague moments and explanations and the lack of tension and suspense.

A lot of 'Negative' has underdeveloped plot elements and often nonsensical and confusing character motivations, while too many of the things to make you shocked are far from creative or unsettling.

There is not enough threat here and what there is of it tends to be used poorly, while it is unimaginative and is more odd than scary or suspenseful, completely failing to show any sense of horror. Some badly sagging momentum too and a lot of weirdness. The direction is uneven, with some assured moments but a lot of ill-at-ease ones too.

Concluding, lacklustre but not without its moments. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Katia Winter star in this understated, psychological thriller about a British operative who ends up having to confiscate a negative from a freelance photographer of a picture he took of her in order to remain as a ghost from those who are seeking to kill her. In the process, both she and the reluctant photographer find themselves on the run. Directed by Joshua Caldwell who also directed Be Somebody (2016), a comedy romance drama that also happens to echo a similar understated tone and offers a refreshing diversion into a more realistic interplay between characters that Negative presents. Negative together with Jennifer Lawrence in Red Sparrow (2018) and Daryl Hannah in The Job (2003) allow female assassin or professional agents that emphasize the psychological drama over the intensity of special effects, explosions, and action scenes of over the top mass killings or hand to hand combat in a choreographed martial arts. At the same time, the sustainability of audience's interest is made much more difficult, especially with the marketing of Negative's trailer with emphasized the action portion of the movie much to the disappointment of a good segment of the audience.

The more authentic characters in this movie provide the audience with a more thoughtful movie about human character though the movie struggles to balance the tension along with the somewhat superficial assumption of how these two people are so easily followed. Other similar movies have been able to incorporate rather more stylized plots or characters in their own psychological drama versions of this genre such as The Numbers Station (2013), The Tailor of Panama (2001), The American (2010), and Eye of the Needle (1981) or comedic versions of this genre such as Miss Meadows (2014), The Matador (2005), Wild Target (2010), Daisy & Violet (2011), and In Bruges (2008). Negative instead remains faithful to its depiction of what might be considered authentic humans whose live intersect in psychologically traumatic ways and how they individually and collectively cope with it.

Have to write to defend this... it's a perfectly decent film.

Katia Winter (Natalie) is good, captivating even, and everyone else is fine where, except for the photographer, they perform calm, minimalist characters. It fits with the mood of the film, some nice contemplative scenes, and dialog that, while others have said is weak, is also fine. Bits of mundane, predictable conversation isn't so far from real life I suspect, and I think it adds to the film, to keep it 'small'.

Not sure I know what cinematography really is, nor directing for that matter, but it seems relatively well put together.

I would agree that the weakness is the story logic, It almost worked that there was no time spent showing how the pursuers were tracking our leads, but not quite. Even a scene or two of them just asking a shop employee or two would have been enough (there was a nice moment where the male pursuer chats to a little boy tho). But ultimately, never saying how Natalie found our photographer or why it would matter so much to our pursuers kind of gnawed at me.

Give me back my 1.5 hour? Bad in everything. 3 stars for me ( courtesy )

The focus is on the two leads that are on the run from assassins. Now, the reason to why they meet and have to flee together is probably the most far fetched I've seen. Other than that the story holds up. The movie does not try to make suspense every corner but instead focus on building the characters from their dialog and actions. If you only like action and less talking, this is not the movie for you.

The somewhat dorky dialog evolves as the characters warm up to each other. Some would say the dialog was boring of coarse, to me it felt more real than most other movies in the genre.

A lot of story probably got cut along the making process. There were several things I felt was left out that could have lifted the story.

The actors did a solid job, specially Katia Winter was really god portraying a tough skinned spy with a conscious. Simon Quaterman did a good job as the "out of his comfort zone"-wimp but were struggling at times when some purer emotions where required.

I enjoyed this movie, but I probably wont see it again.