Dark Places - F

Quick Hit: A dreadful bore of a film with actors that struggle to lift it out of a poor torturous script.

This film looked promising going into it. I almost always enjoy adaptations of books onto film, and there was truly an A-list cast. Nicholas Hoult, Corey Stoll, and Tye Sheridan have all been making their mark lately. Charlize Theron is an  Academy Award Winner, and I personally have always enjoyed Chloe Grace-Moretz in things. But....

Man was this film painful. I admittedly have not read the book, but that should be no excuse when making a film. Indeed, the film was confusing at best. There seems to be little to no motivation for all of the characters. I couldn't understand the plot despite trying very hard. I pieced enough together to understand what was going on, but even that was just miserable. The film was dark (like literally, it was hard to see things at some moments), and there were lots of
background noises and sounds that, instead of adding to the dialogue, served as a welcome distraction from the drab, bleariness of the film.

I really thought this was a shame because there is a lot of promise to this film. After I failed to enjoy the movie, I looked up the story of the book and the way it was told. Why were there changes? Why take a book that is fast-paced and easily enjoyed, full of sarcasm and dark humor, and water it down into a slowly told flashback film?

I may rant a bit here.

It bothers me that whenever an author has a hit book, it is turned into a movie. That sounds ludicrous to say on a movie blog, but it's true: not all books need to be movies. Sometimes the power of one's imagination, or the author's style and tone, is much more powerful than the visual and auditory medium of a film. There are certain stories that should stay in the written word.

​So overall, this film is bad. Don't waste the 90 something minutes I spent. Life is too short - read a good book instead. The rating: an F.

For more information about this movie, check out IMDB.