subratjain1

This might seem like an unpopular opinion if you check the review section. But I got to say it. I found "Infested" very uninteresting and terrible in every way.

To start, the story is supposed to be about killer spiders. But it shows 4-5 people running around scared more than any sort of killing. It is supposed to be horror film but sadly there is no horror element in Infested. The spiders seldom kill, and all the kills are off screen. There is no reason or logic provided to explain how they get so big within hours of hatching. You are left to figure out what exactly makes them dangerous, are they poisonous? Even an iota or effort to make the plot interesting seems to be missing.

Now characters are even terrible. Kaleb, the protagonist is an orphan with a sister. They quarrel constantly and hint that their mother died recently. It doesn't add any depth to him or the plot. He deals in smuggled goods but somehow has a heart of gold. He helps the janitor; he must be a saint. To top it all he also collects bugs. His friends and sister are equally unlikeable. It felt that the actors are not even pretending to be scared and clearly know what is going to happen next.

The director also attempts to bring in unnecessary social commentary, if the lack of horror made to zone out this would make you turn off your TV and stop watching. Apparently, no one in the country is worried about the infestation as proven by twitter. The police as usual is dumber than ever. They take guns to kill spiders and quarantine people instead of evacuating them. Their general rule is to beat people to pulp if they want to go out.

Watch it at your own risk. If you are looking for anything remotely scary/disturbing, skip this one.

I watched the movie not knowing much. The Rating right now is 6.6, which is decent. I was excited as it has Jackie Chan and I have been yearning to watch him in a decent film. After The Foreigner (2017) Jackie hasn't done any decent movies and I was excited to see an action comedy from him. But alas, this is just another typical Chinese movie, full of sappy moments and nothing else.

The story features Lao (Jackie) who is a former stuntman, burdened by debt. His only companion in life is his horse, Red. One day he is asked to return back the horse which was given to him by a businessman and he needs a lawyer to fight for his right. Enters the scene, Bao, his daughter who is very conveniently studying law and is estranged from Lao for some reason only god can understand.

The plot revolves around retaining Red and making up to Bao and that's it. You don't see anything else. There are 3 action sequences, all with the same set of goons who finally become friends (eye-roll). The action is generally so bad that you will notice a body double and a fake horse when there is a close-up shot. It is ironic to see a body double for the legend we all know as Jackie. He is a really fantastic actor but he hasn't been given a chance to act. He goes, does some laughable-looking stunt for movies and cries with his daughter 5 minutes later. If for some reason she is not there on the screen, he cries with the horse. The other irony is that at one point, a long video is played, it actually shows old footage of Jackie doing some very recognizable stunts. But this movie can't hold a mirror to those. I ended up skipping quite a bit as the film was tediously boring.

Jackie is a living legend and this movie is an insult to him. He ought to do more English films like The Foreigner (2017) and leave behind this crap. Avoid this one unless you want to see Jackie crying every 5 minutes for some reason.