I wanted to like this film. But I just couldn't. It wasn't comedic to me. And it didn't strike a cord of being a real-life engaging thriller to me either. It's very stylized. And although style can work in certain circumstances when the viewer is appropriately brought on-board. I felt like the plane left without me. A style really doesn't work if the characters become too artificial while trying to play-off an essence of reality at the same time.
Much of the story about the main character (McConaughey's) is delivered as investigative conjecture from another character(Grant's). So as the narrator character reveals the main character's story, the narrator can later change the result of events we perceive by just revealing that the conjecture he presented before was inaccurate. This gets old really fast.
Maybe this can work if the conjecture is absurd and funny or if the conjecture rings very true most of the time. That way it surprises the viewer when it's revealed to be wrong. But as I explained before, I didn't overall get a sense of either quality within the story-telling.
Overall the film seemed very ambitious. But all of the pieces didn't seem to quite make sense to me together. And they might have been better off removing a few elements for this particular script.
I wasn't too sympathetic for the characters I was supposed to be sympathetic for. I didn't understand the logic to some of the character decisions. Some of the moments of "big reveals" didn't seem too surprising to me. And a lot of the narration got annoying to me. More often than not it's better to show than tell the viewer what they need to know. I didn't think the voiceover was helpful in showing but telling. To put it simply, I felt it was more style than more substance. And the music didn't seem to help the storytelling to me either.
I hope you like it if you see. But I also hope that if you have similar concerns and inclinations as me, that my review might spare you some time and/or money. I know I wish I had stayed away from this one.
Much of the story about the main character (McConaughey's) is delivered as investigative conjecture from another character(Grant's). So as the narrator character reveals the main character's story, the narrator can later change the result of events we perceive by just revealing that the conjecture he presented before was inaccurate. This gets old really fast.
Maybe this can work if the conjecture is absurd and funny or if the conjecture rings very true most of the time. That way it surprises the viewer when it's revealed to be wrong. But as I explained before, I didn't overall get a sense of either quality within the story-telling.
Overall the film seemed very ambitious. But all of the pieces didn't seem to quite make sense to me together. And they might have been better off removing a few elements for this particular script.
I wasn't too sympathetic for the characters I was supposed to be sympathetic for. I didn't understand the logic to some of the character decisions. Some of the moments of "big reveals" didn't seem too surprising to me. And a lot of the narration got annoying to me. More often than not it's better to show than tell the viewer what they need to know. I didn't think the voiceover was helpful in showing but telling. To put it simply, I felt it was more style than more substance. And the music didn't seem to help the storytelling to me either.
I hope you like it if you see. But I also hope that if you have similar concerns and inclinations as me, that my review might spare you some time and/or money. I know I wish I had stayed away from this one.