Snikic

I'm fine with suspending disbelief for a good story but when the entire premise is based on the possibility inherent in day to day reality, that's a lot more painful to do. Maybe it's a personal pet peeve but I simply can't stand when a story entirely hinges on multiple characters being way too pushy, entitled and hurried and the characters opposite them being completely incapable of communicating the very simple points that would clarify the misunderstandings that are the only reason for the intense conflict.

When a character who communicates for a living can't give the detailed explanations that would help remedy their extreme dilemma, I'm just too frustrated to care anymore. I just hate that writing trope and it happened over and over again with multiple characters and situations of contention. One would be way more pushy than is normal and the other would panic wildly and not offer the obvious words that that would end the conflict and things compound from there. It's hard to explain but I've seen it in storytelling so many times and it's infuriating to watch. You don't see it very often anymore in good productions but when it shows up its just far too ridiculous and obviously just a lazy way of putting the characters in direct, intense conflict.

In only this follwing paragraph, some almost spoilers ahead, I'll reference specific instances very vaguely, so it won't truly spoil anything but if u have seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about. If u don't want to chance it, skip this following paragraph.

There's also several plot points and character behaviors that just don't add up or maybe are pheasible but added to everything else, further enraging to watch. If only our innocent family had thought about the fact that if police can trace who's computer it came from,which they can do and the lead made mention of twice, THEN U DONT HAVE A PROBLEM. And if you're thinking along those lines, why the hell are we repeatedly using our devices to Google things and email things which would certainly implicate us? If the manipulative "victim" were so clever, why didn't she ever clue in to the fact that the most reasonable explanation for her circumstances would be that what the family was saying was true or at least discuss it with them and get more information instead of jumping to conclusions and putting everyone in their respective corners... or maybe, just maybe, stop focusing on how clever you are for one moment and notice that the person supposedly responsible for the material at the heart of this, keeps asking questions about it which make it BLATANTLY obvious that he knows nothing about the contents and therefore could not be responsible for them.

I liked the idea of the characters and their conflict but the execution was excruciating to watch. It's really such a shame because there were a lot of likeable, interesting aspects to most of the characters. There was much more potential than was achieved. The acting was all brilliant all around, I don't mean that. The direction was middling, I wanted to shove the cameraman off the merry go round in the park scene with the reporter and the Scottish thief, dear God, I got vertigo from watching two people sit still and talk. But the plot and the limitations placed on the characters robbed it severely.

The concept was a good one, sort of... the central idea was that ordinary, decent people can become murderers in the right circumstances. This concept is true and should be better explored and understood. But it's laughable when they lump serial killers with ribcage magazine racks and pedophiles with obvious psychological damage and behavioral disorders in with them like they're all the same... they aren't. And this was a poor example of when that is true. Sure, people do stupid things all the time, especially when freaked out enough to murder someone, but the characters were so distractingly shoehorned into contention by the writer and denied the common sense solutions to their misunderstandings every single time. It's just incredibly aggrevating to watch. There were aspects of most of the characters that I really liked... it could have been so much better. There's some great humor in it, which I really enjoyed. And occasionally there was a really pure moment of honest humanity and true psychology. But overall, I resented watching it.

This is so bad. It takes a lot to make me not appreciate a film but this just made me miserable from start to finish. I almost quit halfway thru because I just wanted the ride to end so badly.

-There were problems with the writing.

-Problems with the depiction of the psychology.

-Unbelievable characters and plot points.

-Lots of unlikable characters.

-Story was utterly lacking in suspense, dragged and I literally figured out the entire plot by 1/3 of the way thru.

-The thugs couldn't have been more goonish. Not in a stylistic choice kind of way; in a B movie kind of way. I've seen far better B movies, to be honest.

-Many of the positive reviews reference all of these great classics but I can't see them in this except in a handful of very derivative ways.

I would have expected this to come from some cut-rate director. It just seems thoroughly unskilled. I think the reverence for some of the names involved in this influenced some of the positive reviews. I simply can't imagine that many people truly found this gripping or interesting.

It felt like it had more potential than was fulfilled. I expected it to be a little more profound and unsettling. They had me in the palm of their hands by the end and could have really taken advantage of that but left it more like real life leaves things. Artistically, I think there was a lost opportunity there but it's not really for me to say since I don't know what their original intent was in telling this story. You can certainly draw your own conclusions as to the 'moral of the story' and what it means in relation to life in general... and perhaps that's exactly what was meant to do.

It was worth watching. I wish more films took chances like this and went by their own formula. I thought the effects were quite good, as was the general ambiance and the acting was terrific. I was expecting a very slow pace and minimalistic approach and I think its important, at least for American audiences, to know that in advance.

Good luck trying to make your inner 13 year old stop asking 'who effed that sheep?' so you can take it seriously.