Oh boy, where to start.
I'll begin with positives. The production design was gorgeous - it was easy to be swept up in the fantastical 1950's American suburb setting thanks to the colourful set pieces and wonderful costumes. Florence Pugh is really the stand out performer in DWD, but even her talent was not enough for me to genuinely care for her character. Unfortunately the positives end here. Although Chris Pine is fine and played the role well, there was no substance to his character, he is written to be obscure and sinister but not enough about his character nor the Victory Organization that he leads is revealed to have the audience invested in his performance imo.
The negatives, of which there are many.
First and foremost my biggest issue concerns Wilde's direction. The movie would have been much better suited to tackle either Florence's character struggling with her sanity, OR the Victory Project's shady dealings. Both are explored but neither is convincing nor given enough exploration. Wilde borrows well established tropes from the psychological thriller genre that are better utilized in films like Shutter Island and the Truman Show, and these tropes are shamelessly replicated in an attempt to come across as smart or groundbreaking, but unfortunately come across as juvenile. Harry Styles might not be as bad as some are making him out to be (he is inexperienced, not atrocious) yet there were multiple moments in the theatre when his delivery spawned audience laughter. I'll avoid spoilers, but the third act is littered with moments that seemingly come out of no where and raise more questions than they answer. I can't help but feel this movie was doomed from the start and would have been better off in another director's hands. Watch are your own risk !
I'll begin with positives. The production design was gorgeous - it was easy to be swept up in the fantastical 1950's American suburb setting thanks to the colourful set pieces and wonderful costumes. Florence Pugh is really the stand out performer in DWD, but even her talent was not enough for me to genuinely care for her character. Unfortunately the positives end here. Although Chris Pine is fine and played the role well, there was no substance to his character, he is written to be obscure and sinister but not enough about his character nor the Victory Organization that he leads is revealed to have the audience invested in his performance imo.
The negatives, of which there are many.
First and foremost my biggest issue concerns Wilde's direction. The movie would have been much better suited to tackle either Florence's character struggling with her sanity, OR the Victory Project's shady dealings. Both are explored but neither is convincing nor given enough exploration. Wilde borrows well established tropes from the psychological thriller genre that are better utilized in films like Shutter Island and the Truman Show, and these tropes are shamelessly replicated in an attempt to come across as smart or groundbreaking, but unfortunately come across as juvenile. Harry Styles might not be as bad as some are making him out to be (he is inexperienced, not atrocious) yet there were multiple moments in the theatre when his delivery spawned audience laughter. I'll avoid spoilers, but the third act is littered with moments that seemingly come out of no where and raise more questions than they answer. I can't help but feel this movie was doomed from the start and would have been better off in another director's hands. Watch are your own risk !