nyshrink

This movie has a lot going for it--interesting sets, great costumes, great soundtrack. It's based on a monumentally ground-breaking novel. But as I was about 75 minutes into the film I thought to myself, "Wasn't a lot of the book from the monster's perspective?" Del Toro spends way too much time in the first half on the human characters' drama, some of which I don't recall from the book. There are a lot of annoying Hollywood elements, including absurdly loud sound effects, people surviving physical harm that should have killed them, and portentous bits of dialogue with pregnant pauses. I was honestly about to walk out when the movie became "Part Two" which is the monster's story. It then instantly became interesting. I think Del Toro did preserve some dialogue from the book. It's a great story and hard to ruin. I just wish it had been edited. There was no reason at all for this movie to be as long as it was and much of the first half is boring.

Even for Christopher Nolan this film makes no sense. The plot resembles something that someone very high on drugs might come up with right before passing out. Most of the film is chases and fights. I actually could not summarize the plot if I tried. It's a sad waste of talent because the leads are all charismatic.