For the
sake of not having to write the same intro a million
different ways throughout the rest of time, just know that
this column avoids the overly long and sometimes dull
process of full film reviews and instead opts to break
things down based on what I thought going in, what happened
while I was there and what I learned at the end of it all.
Hope that's OK.
Read on!
The
Breakdown - The Woman In Black
The Impression:
Daniel Radcliffe breaks away from the Harry Potter
series and gets ready to start the second part of his
career. First up, an adaptation of The Woman In
Black, a novel from 1983 that has been previously been
featured on the stage and in the form of TV movie.
This is going to be good.
The Reality:
Unfortunately, The Woman In Black is not a good
movie. I wish I could just call it a mess and leave it
at that, but it's not as though it's a wreck in every
aspect. It certainly looks nice and features some
solid performances. The problem with it, though, is
that there's no real story. The film plays out like
someone read the book and then just wanted to see their
favorite parts on the big screen. Is that writer Jane
Goldman's fault, or did director James Watkins just cut out
all of the exposition? I have no clue, but I do know
the film greatly suffers from an extreme lack of
information. I spent a rather large portion of the
movie feeling bored and curious as to when the cheap jump
scares would stop and an actual story would begin. I
mean, at least give me a good twist!
The Lesson:
A mediocre film can be just as disappointing as a terrible
one.
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