simonb-667-548936

I'm about 4/5s of the way through (1:52 in actually) and I'm just finding this to be an absolute slog of a movie. I'm going to keep watching because I want to see what happens (dear god hopefully something!), but also dear god this is just so darn exhausting to watch. It's not that it's slow per se (though it certainly is), it's that every aspect of it - the plot, the characters, the settings, the impossibilities - are just so enormously overwrought, so tedious, and so melodramatic. God it's just so exhausting.

I suppose cheers are due to the actors for their efforts. Charlbi is fantastic and has sadly been taken from us far too early. The Russian oligarch is a joy. Woody Harrelson on the other hand - does he know how to play anything other than drunk? Listening to him go on and on and on about Marxism for that entire scene is a perfect example of how awful this film is. "JUST MAKE IT STOP," I screamed along with the other poor trapped passengers. I was only too lucky to not also be seasick. Though I am now feeling a bit queasy.

A hostage movie that makes you feel like a hostage yourself. Great acting and a pretty set help to build tension, but nothing ever happens and there's no pay-off to that tension. It's not bad, but it's not good.

A moving and beautiful story of love, loss, and discovery. It brought tears to my eyes by the end. Cage may get a bad rep but it is undeserved as here he proves he is a true acting force. It's just a beautiful beautiful sad story.