VaibhavSinha5

I was drawn to Holland because I liked Mimi Cave's work on Fresh quite a lot, so I figured, why not give this one a shot? Right from the start, though, I felt like I was watching a beautiful facade that slowly began to crumble. The movie sets up this idyllic suburban world that promises dark secrets lurking underneath, but it doesn't really deliver on that promise.

The screenplay is all over the place, disjointed, and full of abrupt plot turns that feel unearned. One minute you're settling into the slow burn of suburban perfection, and the next, bam, a twist that never had time to build up any real suspense. The tonal shifts between dark humor and suspense are jarring, and frankly, neither element is strong enough on its own to carry the movie. It's clear that the characters were meant to mirror the film's theme of artifice and hidden darkness, but aside from Nicole Kidman's Nancy, they're pretty underwritten. Kidman tries her best to hold everything together, and she does give a standout performance, yet her character doesn't have enough depth or substance to fully shine in a script that never really finds its footing.

There are some interesting ideas at play, like the notion of suburban perfection hiding a sinister underside. The use of the tulip imagery and all the Dutch-themed decor is visually stunning and adds to the unsettling beauty of the film. However, all that potential is let down by too many narrative gaps and twists that feel contrived. The theme of artifice, while promising, is never deeply explored, and it remains a surface-level idea. The pacing is another issue. The movie drags in some parts and then rushes through key moments in others, so it never really builds any proper tension.

Overall, its visual style and production design are definitely its strongest points, which capture an unsettling, almost beautiful atmosphere. But unfortunately, that style is bogged down by a poor script and uneven storytelling. Holland is a film with some bright flashes that, sadly, never come together as a cohesive whole.

O'Dessa may catch your eye with some cool visuals and a few catchy musical moments, but that's pretty much where its strengths end. Sadie Sink is the standout here as she brings a commitment and charisma that makes up a little for the film's weak, contrived plot and shallow character development. Despite the film's ambitious attempts to mix different styles and eras, it ends up feeling like a messy collage without much substance to hold it together.

The movie just can't find a clear direction, with a tonally inconsistent script that feels more like a string of expositions than a well-paced story. While it's fun to see the stylistic nods and moments of creativity, everything else falls flat and leaves you with a feeling that, aside from Sadie's performance, nothing truly resonates.

The Gorge is the kind of movie that hooks you in with a solid mystery-thriller-romance setup, only to fumble the ball when it matters most. The first half actually works. There's a strong intrigue surrounding the characters, the suspense feels tangible, and the slow-burn tension keeps you invested. The whole anticipation of their connection is arguably more engaging than the actual payoff, but it's still handled well enough. The creature designs are fantastic. The film has some nice visuals, too. There's this eerie atmosphere with rain, lightning, and fog that adds a lot to the mood. It also blends genres in an interesting way, blending horror, sci-fi, and thriller elements while keeping romance at its core. And yeah, you can see clear pulls from Aliens, Annihilation, and even fun little winks to Whiplash and The Queen's Gambit, which is a nice touch. But as the film starts revealing its cards, it gets increasingly clunky. Some of the plotting feels forced, and there's this overkill of familiar tropes that makes things predictable. The dialogue, which was already nothing special, really dries up in the second half, leaving a lot of moments feeling hollow.

Anya Taylor-Joy, unsurprisingly, delivers. She's got that natural screen presence that makes any role more engaging. Miles Teller is decent, too, and their chemistry is okay but nothing extraordinary. The problem is, as soon as the mystery starts unraveling, the story just kind of deflates. There's a point where you can feel the movie losing its grip as if it doesn't know how to maintain the intrigue it worked so hard to build. The tension fades, the pacing gets sluggish, and by the time it reaches the ending, it's clear the film just doesn't stick the landing. The final moment is pretty bad. It's a shame because the movie had something going. It had cool ideas, solid visuals, and a unique mix of genres. But by the end, it's like watching a magic trick where the setup is great, but the reveal is just... disappointing. A solid start, a frustrating fall, and an ending that leaves you feeling like you sat through something that could've been a lot better.