Movie Breakdown: Mortal
Pre-Screening Stance:
I’m not particularly familiar with the cast of Mortal, but I’m excited to check it out because it’s directed by Andre Ovredal, who did Trollhunter, The Autopsy Of Jane Doe and Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.
Post-Screening Ramble:
Mortal is easily one of my least favorite films of 2020. It stars Nat Wolff as Eric, a young man with special powers and no friends or family. The latter is obviously rough, but it’s the former that’s causing most of his sadness, as he has zero control over what he’s capable of – he has a nightmare and trees catch on fire, he gets stressed out and lighting strikes everywhere. After stealing some lollipops (seriously), Eric accidentally kills a teenage boy, which then kicks him down a path of self-discovery. Along the way the meets Christine (Iben Akerlie), a young psychologist/awkward love interest, and he somewhat learns to control his powers via a lot of squinting and heavy breathing. And just to be clear, when I say a lot of squinting and heavy breathing, I mean a lot. The structure of this film is a close up of Eric’s face as he slowly loses his shit, then a few special FX shots involving water, fire or lightning, and then a lot of bland, woeful dialogue. Rinse repeat. Furthering the pain here is the fact that Mortal has no sense of humor at all. It’s like the main goal for writer/director Andre Ovredal was to churn out an angry, bitter response to every upbeat moment that’s ever happened in a Marvel film. Well Andre, you did it. You really did.
Frankly, I loathed this movie. It’s not interesting or fun or noteworthy in any way. Skip.
One Last Thought:
I’m going to toss a spoiler down here, so if you’re planning to see this movie (despite my review), then avert your eyes elsewhere.
Alright, as I mentioned up above, this is a bad film, but it isn’t an all-out terrible affair until Eric discovers he’s actually Thor and that he’s the proud owner of a dirty glove, a rickety belt and an un-mighty hammer (that looks like it would be used for jewelry or small nails). I laughed at the movie from this point on.
