There's nothing wrong with this film. The cast is good, the direction's not bad, Michael Shannon gives a really good performance... I remember Jon Hamm saying in an interview once that it's crazy that "good isn't good enough anymore." He meant that everyone expects everyone to be the best thing ever or else they'll ignore. I don't feel that way, but this is probably gonna come off like that.
This film is good, but that's not good enough for me. It tells the story of what happened, but was just so flatly uninteresting, even while interesting things were happening with curious characters. By the time the film ended, I felt nothing. I would have rather watched a documentary, because in an effort to tell a true, ridiculous story, it did so in the flattest, most subdued way possible. I'm not asking for style, for style's sake, but this is just an anonymous film with Tarantino-esque characters and no one to really connect with.
This is a film you'll forget you saw 5 minutes after it's over. And I don't wanna say there are wasted performances or anything...just...I wanted something more. Something to discern it from any other straight to VOD crime film, however true. Something more than just good cinematography, good casting and believable performances.
I'm not greedy...I didn't need this to be David Fincher's Zodiac or Spike Lee's Summer of Sam or Patty Jenkins' Monster or Silence of the Lambs. But this makes We Own the Night look like The Departed.
It is what it is, I guess.
This film is good, but that's not good enough for me. It tells the story of what happened, but was just so flatly uninteresting, even while interesting things were happening with curious characters. By the time the film ended, I felt nothing. I would have rather watched a documentary, because in an effort to tell a true, ridiculous story, it did so in the flattest, most subdued way possible. I'm not asking for style, for style's sake, but this is just an anonymous film with Tarantino-esque characters and no one to really connect with.
This is a film you'll forget you saw 5 minutes after it's over. And I don't wanna say there are wasted performances or anything...just...I wanted something more. Something to discern it from any other straight to VOD crime film, however true. Something more than just good cinematography, good casting and believable performances.
I'm not greedy...I didn't need this to be David Fincher's Zodiac or Spike Lee's Summer of Sam or Patty Jenkins' Monster or Silence of the Lambs. But this makes We Own the Night look like The Departed.
It is what it is, I guess.