Rating of
2.5/4
A mushy noir
Bri - wrote on 12/12/10
As a noir thriller, this strange little movie has its moments. But it doesn't seem to just be a noir, or at least people aren't content to take it that way. The main character, played with the perfect amount of creepy non-emotion by Casey Affleck, doesn't really have a lot of motivation for the horrible things he does, save for a half-explained revenge scheme. Mostly he seems to enjoy bashing the hell out of women, and for the admittedly brutal violence against women, a lot of people were angry that it even made it to Sundance. My problem was more with the fact that the movie has no idea what the protagonist's motivation is! The female characters are poorly written and poorly acted (Jessica Alba is utterly forgettable, as usual). Bill Pullman has an inexplicable cameo. The movie just seems to have an identity crisis that culminates in a really pointless ending. But that Casey Affleck does a heck of a job.
