And this movie was pretty damn GOOD!
FIRST off, yeah! The ACTing by Sean Patrick Flannery was GREAT! I wasn't even ten minutes in and HAD to look up 'who IS this guy???' and i'm betting that this role will open a door for him, even though he's been around for a while...it was on the level, in my opinion, of Anthony Hopkins' performance as Hannibal Lecter. I'm not saying this guy is as good an actor, of course. Especially since i haven't seen any of his other films...and Hopkins has proven he's remarkably diverse...one of the best actors of the last 60 years, at least...but given the two roles, i'd say Flannery handled THIS one as well as Hopkins did Lecter. I doubt many of the people here would've stuck around as long, watching this movie, if this wasn't true...
i thought it would've served the role of the psychiatrist if the actor wasn't as pretty as the one who played it...he didn't do a bad job of it...it's just that it would've proven more somber if he had been more ordinary looking...older, as well...to lend some more gravity to his smugness. It's easy for young people to be smug. Part of the narcissism of youth. Part of the denial of the incredible insecurity young people SHOULD feel not knowing much about life...so i think the casting could've been better with an older, gruff looking actor.
I felt the movie was at its best when it was just the two of them...the occurrences with just the two of them were not novel...been done many times...pretty much same story...but the intensity and pacing is riveting...but whenever the warden was in a scene it was made much more 'ordinary'. Cliched. I think it was partly his poorly written dialogue but, again, it was also his 'look'...he IS the keeper of a different hell. And he didn't seem darkly affected. So there's that...
but the movie, overall, is effective...and i think there's a definite possibility of a sequel...i hope that they up the execution of the story, though. So to speak... ; - )
in any case, i was well entertained, overall, when i initially thought i'd turn it off after, at MOST, 15 minutes. Didn't happen.
So no...the high marks are not fakes. Not, like many, many high mark reviews on questionable movies, first time reviewers... we all saw it and were entertained...and it's not my 'usual fare'. But it was fare enough...
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