jamesrupert2014 Review of Poison

Poison (II) (2023)

Deadpan comedy in extremis - artificial but entertaining in an odd way

[7/10 · 4 October 2023]

When Woods (Dev Patel) finds Harry (Benedict Cumberbatch), who thinks that his pajamas harbour a sleeping krait, laying still and silent in bed he calls Dr. Ganderbai (Ben Kingsley) for help. Like Wes Anderson's other recent Roald Dahl shorts, the film is highly stylised, with stage-like settings, rapid-fire but artificial sounding dialogue, and characters who frequently break the fourth wall. Not a lot happens as Ganderbai works to remove the snake without awakening it. The cryptic ending, which finds Harry (perhaps delusional from breathing chloroform) verbally abusing the Bengali doctor who sought to help him, is quite abrupt.