When approaching this film many would admit feeling slightly cautious. Kevin Smith is someone whose films always come across as a bit hit or miss to audiences. Smith is someone who has both his detractors and die-hard fans (no pun intended), whereas most of the time I find myself coming somewhere in-between.
From personal experience, I myself remember being underwhelmed on the first viewing of his debut feature Clerks (1994). In hindsight I think this was caused by the high critical praise the film has previously received, as on my second of viewing of the film I was able to see it in a more positive light. So in a way to avoid any previous prejudice, which could sway my opinion, I decided not to look at any previous reviews.
The film begins with a group of teenagers in a school discussing with their teacher a local religious cult. Three of the teenage boys in the class that night arrange to meet a woman, of whom they propositioned online. On their way they are involved in a minor car crash. From here the story begins to spiral off in a new direction. Yet the film never seems to settle from this point out.
Through out the film it seems to criss-cross between different film archetypes. From the beginning it starts off as a Hostel (2003), style “torture porn” setup however this soon progresses into a hostage situation style thriller, of the likes of such films as Speed (1994) and Die Hard (1988). As an audience member though you are never really given a chance to rest or take note of the story as a whole. The film keeps pushing till the end but there isn’t any let up.
In this way it could come across to some as disjointed and unorganised. It could even be suggested as sloppy or amateur like, as though it were produced by a young film student as opposed to the reality of a Hollywood veteran of sorts.
But here I feel I must defend the film to state that this is not the case. Although the transitions do feel at times disjointing, they never feel out of place or stiff. They appear to come across as professional. You can see that much time and effort has been put into the ideas and manipulation of themes throughout the movie.
Yet all is not perfect. The transition points do still come across as brittle. There is a certain smoothness that seems lacking. The fact this is the main point of discussion may come across as tedious, but I feel it is a point that is imperative not to underestimate. For some this will be a deciding factor on whether or not they enjoy this movie.
In terms of reviewing the film, it is defiantly a hard one to decipher. There does seem to be an interesting story here and the direction seems professional yet uneasy. If the film was the work of a first time director this could be understandable and as a critic the filmmaker could be judged over a longer period of time. However this is on many levels the ectypal narrative we see played over on multiple occasions when critics examine Smith’s work.
Nevertheless the film should be judged on its own merits. In terms of recommending this film, it would really come down to their own individual opinion. On its own I personally wouldn’t be going for repeat viewings but others may be more open to this films style and what I, in my opinion felt was its jagged form of progression.
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