It's been over a week since I've seen this movie yet I still don't feel like I'm qualified enough to write this review, because I still haven't managed to wrap my head around exactly what I saw. I haven't read many online theories, and have been trying to decide for myself exactly what this movie is but I can't do it. It's very rare that a movie will manage to confuse me, I usually understand movies that are traditionally considered confusing like 'Inception' and 'Donnie Darko', but with this I still honestly have no idea.
The movie is actually straightforward for the most part, it's just the ending that is completely mind-boggling. The story is very engaging and tense, and I never found myself becoming bored. The characters are excellently written and the whole plot is very, very unpredictable. This movie has made me think about it a lot, I can't stop coming back to it because it's such a fascinating piece of cinema. 'Enemy' managed to do another thing that most other movies fail to do as well, and that is scare me. It was the ending again to cause this, because what happens is so sudden, shocking and bizarre that it scared the hell out of me and made me jump out of my skin.
The acting in this movie is great as well. Jake Gyllenhaal is phenomenal in the lead two roles, he carries the whole movie and has great screen presence. There are only two other noteworthy performances and they are from Mélanie Laurent and Sarah Gadon, but the real star on show here is Jake Gyllenhaal.
I went into 'Enemy' knowing as little about it as possible, and I think that's the best way to do it. I didn't even know the movie was directed by Denis Villeneuve, who directed one of last years best movies, 'Prisoners'. Had I known he was the director I probably would have had different expectations, but I'm glad I didn't see the movie hoping for anything too much because if I had then I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. Villeneuve is a master at building tension, there's a constant sense of impending doom throughout the movie just as there was in 'Prisoners', so he clearly knows how to give a movie a good tone. I will definitely watch 'Enemy' many more times in the future. It's the type of movie where it's to impossible to understand everything on the first watch, and I applaud it for being such an intelligent thriller.
The movie is actually straightforward for the most part, it's just the ending that is completely mind-boggling. The story is very engaging and tense, and I never found myself becoming bored. The characters are excellently written and the whole plot is very, very unpredictable. This movie has made me think about it a lot, I can't stop coming back to it because it's such a fascinating piece of cinema. 'Enemy' managed to do another thing that most other movies fail to do as well, and that is scare me. It was the ending again to cause this, because what happens is so sudden, shocking and bizarre that it scared the hell out of me and made me jump out of my skin.
The acting in this movie is great as well. Jake Gyllenhaal is phenomenal in the lead two roles, he carries the whole movie and has great screen presence. There are only two other noteworthy performances and they are from Mélanie Laurent and Sarah Gadon, but the real star on show here is Jake Gyllenhaal.
I went into 'Enemy' knowing as little about it as possible, and I think that's the best way to do it. I didn't even know the movie was directed by Denis Villeneuve, who directed one of last years best movies, 'Prisoners'. Had I known he was the director I probably would have had different expectations, but I'm glad I didn't see the movie hoping for anything too much because if I had then I doubt I would have enjoyed it as much as I did. Villeneuve is a master at building tension, there's a constant sense of impending doom throughout the movie just as there was in 'Prisoners', so he clearly knows how to give a movie a good tone. I will definitely watch 'Enemy' many more times in the future. It's the type of movie where it's to impossible to understand everything on the first watch, and I applaud it for being such an intelligent thriller.