It's hard to believe than an interesting idea with such a casting for the main roles can end up being such a mediocre movie.
The script is not great, it definitely has its flaws, but what really bothered me is the camera work and cinematography. It really makes this movie look cheap. Even though there is a decent budget (big actors, cars being destroyed..), the style is completely absent. The shaky camera and quick zooms look horrible and distracting in this kind of movie, it's like the director made a couple of action movies and didn't know how to film this. It's a very dark story, with very dark characters and dialogs, but the visual mood tells a completely different story, and if you're aware of this aspect of a movie, it will definitely spoil this one like it happened to me.
Another big annoyance was the character Joe (J. D. Morgan), which was supposed to be a burned down cop with a big mess on his hands, but then he walks around with a gentle smile, being cool and nice and sharing some lovely scenes with his happy family. I actually like the actor, but it seems that he wasn't really guided into the character. Complete kill of mood. There were lots of moments where the characters kind of lose the touch with the nature of the story and I found that very distracting. This was supposed to be a sequel for Se7en. Compare it with that and you'll see exactly what I mean.
I'm sure lots of people will find this movie good, watchable. I feel like it had the potential to be way better, but the director failed to set the mood right.
I'm actually glad they didn't make this into a sequel for Se7en.
The script is not great, it definitely has its flaws, but what really bothered me is the camera work and cinematography. It really makes this movie look cheap. Even though there is a decent budget (big actors, cars being destroyed..), the style is completely absent. The shaky camera and quick zooms look horrible and distracting in this kind of movie, it's like the director made a couple of action movies and didn't know how to film this. It's a very dark story, with very dark characters and dialogs, but the visual mood tells a completely different story, and if you're aware of this aspect of a movie, it will definitely spoil this one like it happened to me.
Another big annoyance was the character Joe (J. D. Morgan), which was supposed to be a burned down cop with a big mess on his hands, but then he walks around with a gentle smile, being cool and nice and sharing some lovely scenes with his happy family. I actually like the actor, but it seems that he wasn't really guided into the character. Complete kill of mood. There were lots of moments where the characters kind of lose the touch with the nature of the story and I found that very distracting. This was supposed to be a sequel for Se7en. Compare it with that and you'll see exactly what I mean.
I'm sure lots of people will find this movie good, watchable. I feel like it had the potential to be way better, but the director failed to set the mood right.
I'm actually glad they didn't make this into a sequel for Se7en.