As he did in Shape of Water, del Toro, aided by cinematographer Dan Laustsen, captures the look and feel of a place and time with gorgeous and lush photography and the star-studded cast mostly delivers. Unfortunately it's all in service of what is a fairly pedestrian femme fatale film noir and ends up a triumph of style over substance.
The story is undeserving of a 2:30 run time and del Toro takes far too much time developing a plot which, due to its familiarity, doesn't deliver enough of a payoff for the wait. It would have been more effective as a tightly edited 90 minute feature. While it was beautiful to look at, I expected more from del Toro.
The story is undeserving of a 2:30 run time and del Toro takes far too much time developing a plot which, due to its familiarity, doesn't deliver enough of a payoff for the wait. It would have been more effective as a tightly edited 90 minute feature. While it was beautiful to look at, I expected more from del Toro.