The Empty Man is a curious movie with many great ideas, but unfortunately, it winds up being a disappointment that can't shoulder the weight of its own ambitions. James Badge Dale stars as a grieving ex-Cop who goes looking for his neighbour's missing daughter, only to find himself investigating a mysterious cult. It's creepy and unsettling, but it's also dangerously overlong and can't seem to decide what type of movie it is. The ambition is commendable, but this is a case of trying something new and not quite getting it right.
Part of the problem is that the first twenty minutes is exceptional. Set two decades before the main body of the film, it tells the story of four hikers in the Himalayas who get into serious trouble when one of them falls into a catatonic state. It's an atmospheric introduction, with the high altitude setting and ghostly snowy landscape doing wonders for the vibe. It functions almost like it's own short film and it's utterly enthralling, the appearance of a weirdly extra-human skeleton adding a Lovecraftian touch.
But once the film begins properly, it can't measure up to its own high standards. The tone remains consistently bleak and downbeat, but the frequent genre shifts don't do it any favours. The Empty Man starts as a ghost story, turns into a hardboiled noir detective film, then wanders into Wicker Man territory before fumbling the ending.
It takes a long time to reach the ending too. The story unfolds gradually, and at first it works, but after ninety minutes the goodwill of the introduction is wearing thin, and there's still three-quarters of an hour to go. Badge Dale is excellent as the lead, but his story is less enthralling and you start wishing you were back in the mountains with those luckless backpackers. The ambition is commendable and The Empty Man is certainly a cut above the childish creepypasta it's been unfairly painted as, but this is a noble failure rather than an overlooked gem.
Part of the problem is that the first twenty minutes is exceptional. Set two decades before the main body of the film, it tells the story of four hikers in the Himalayas who get into serious trouble when one of them falls into a catatonic state. It's an atmospheric introduction, with the high altitude setting and ghostly snowy landscape doing wonders for the vibe. It functions almost like it's own short film and it's utterly enthralling, the appearance of a weirdly extra-human skeleton adding a Lovecraftian touch.
But once the film begins properly, it can't measure up to its own high standards. The tone remains consistently bleak and downbeat, but the frequent genre shifts don't do it any favours. The Empty Man starts as a ghost story, turns into a hardboiled noir detective film, then wanders into Wicker Man territory before fumbling the ending.
It takes a long time to reach the ending too. The story unfolds gradually, and at first it works, but after ninety minutes the goodwill of the introduction is wearing thin, and there's still three-quarters of an hour to go. Badge Dale is excellent as the lead, but his story is less enthralling and you start wishing you were back in the mountains with those luckless backpackers. The ambition is commendable and The Empty Man is certainly a cut above the childish creepypasta it's been unfairly painted as, but this is a noble failure rather than an overlooked gem.