slipperyfish37

I was very excited when I heard about this film. Simon Pegg and Minnie Driver in a quirky little British comedy about a mysterious event on the Isle of Man, count me in. Unfortunately, I very disappointed. This movie couldn't decide what it wanted be. It wasn't a comedy, a mystery, or a quirky character study.

Pegg's Sandor was humorless and pathetic, but not in a good way. Minnie Driver's Anne was better, but she was underused. The actors looked confused and wooden throughout, which usually points to subpar directing. Overall it was very slow and generally mediocre. I watched it all the way through to the end, because that's what I do. All the time hoping it would improve, but sadly it did not.

This is the kind of film that makes me scratch my head and say why wasn't this better?

This film had an incredible cast, except for the inert Rooney Mara. Unfortunately, Del Toro was only able to pull luke warm performances from an award winning cast. They looked confused and wooden. The relationships between the characters did not ring true. Very disappointing.

On the positive side, the visuals were beautiful. The cinematography, sets, and costumes kept me watching.

The film's first half was rivetting, but it lost its way in the second half. The running time was two hours and thirty minutes, but it felt like fours hours. Don't great me wrong, I love a good three hour epic, but this wasn't epic, it was a character study. If this film had been edited properly, it would have been a tight, tension filled, film noir nail biter.

Also, it was very predictable. I saw most of the plot points coming from a mile away. I've seen this story too many times.

I expect more from Guillermo del Toro.