I think I'd have enjoyed this more if I did not know the source material, however, unlike many others, I loved the remixed ending. I thought the ending improves upon the book for a few reasons I cannot state without spoilers, but after you watch this, go to good reads and read reviews of people who don't like the book, you'll see it's mostly because of the ending. I would agree, the ending in the book is lazy and makes the main characters, honestly, into pretty awful people. It felt like "Cabin in the Woods", without the satire essentially.
I am unsure why this got an R rating, it is actually very tame, thematically it is dark, but overall, it is very tame. "Old" is actually substantially more graphic, deals with very dark themes, and yet it is PG-13. Kind of weird.
The opening camera work is beautiful, it sets a very good tone right from the get go. I watch a lot of movies, and the direction here and the cinematography is superb, it is refreshing among a sea of poorly made ig budget films. It is sad that once it is inside the cabin, of course the cinematography is quite limited in scope they do the best they can in the confined space. I do absolutely agree with most people that the pacing here is bad, this is a big problem. You can set things in a cabin as a single location and it works "Misery" is a prime example, but where this film falls a little short is it lacks tension at time due to uneven pacing. The flashbacks kill a lot of the momentum in the story, I understand why their there, but they definitely take us out of the tense setting, and it is not a benefit. Not at all.
Overall, I think it is a pretty good thriller with themes that are important involving sacrifice, family bonds, and love. It is talky so it requires a lot of patience, this movie is not for the impatient, but if you've seen any M Night Shamalayan flms, that is nothing new. His films are always very dialog heavy.
I am unsure why this got an R rating, it is actually very tame, thematically it is dark, but overall, it is very tame. "Old" is actually substantially more graphic, deals with very dark themes, and yet it is PG-13. Kind of weird.
The opening camera work is beautiful, it sets a very good tone right from the get go. I watch a lot of movies, and the direction here and the cinematography is superb, it is refreshing among a sea of poorly made ig budget films. It is sad that once it is inside the cabin, of course the cinematography is quite limited in scope they do the best they can in the confined space. I do absolutely agree with most people that the pacing here is bad, this is a big problem. You can set things in a cabin as a single location and it works "Misery" is a prime example, but where this film falls a little short is it lacks tension at time due to uneven pacing. The flashbacks kill a lot of the momentum in the story, I understand why their there, but they definitely take us out of the tense setting, and it is not a benefit. Not at all.
Overall, I think it is a pretty good thriller with themes that are important involving sacrifice, family bonds, and love. It is talky so it requires a lot of patience, this movie is not for the impatient, but if you've seen any M Night Shamalayan flms, that is nothing new. His films are always very dialog heavy.