Unlike most people, I actually preferred the second half of this movie over its first one.
The first half of this movie is basically all build up. Nothing good or creepy really happens and the movie just drags along. I was mostly bored and annoyed because I also didn't liked any of the characters. For a movie with so many great and well known actors in it, the movie surely features some boring and flat characters, as well as some disappointing performances.
Robert De Niro looked so bored in this. I really hope for him and his kid's sake that he isn't such a boring father in real life, like he portrays in this movie. Makes me sad to see the once great De Niro in a movie like this, playing such a bad and flat character. No, his presence really doesn't add anything to this movie, which can also be said about Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Irving, Dylan Baker, Melissa Leo and Robert John Burke. Seriously, what are they all doing in this movie? Most of the characters don't even add anything to the story at all and could had easily been left out or played by some unknown extra. But I also was annoyed by Dakota Fanning. She's playing a depressed kid, who is mad and unkind to to almost everyone. Why should we ever care about such a character. Just because she is a kid? The film-makers seemed to think so it seems but just because she is a kid doesn't mean she and the writing can get away with just everything.
It's obviously all what they wanted to do and achieve with this movie but the execution however isn't very good. The first half of the movie is supposed to be a mystery, in which you are not supposed to be sure what is going on or what direction the story is going to take. It constantly tries to fool you but problem is that it all takes too long and the story just isn't being told in a very intriguing, mysterious or tense way. Again, this is also due to the incredibly flat characters that are in the movie its story.
This is foremost why I liked the second half way better. As soon as it became clear what direction the movie was heading toward, the movie finally started to gain some pace and also even the characters started to change, for the better of the movie. This however happens all far too late, which means it can't really save this movie from being a disappointing one.
Once the movie is finished and you look back at it, there are plenty of things in this movie and story that don't always make too much sense. These are all moments that are put in this movie to either fool or scare you, without adding up or making sense by the end really. It's a kind of cheap writing and way film-making, which makes me wonder all the more why all these big names ever singed on to this movie in the first place.
It's also a rather clichéd movie, which reminds you of far too many other genre movies you have probably seen already. No, "Hide and Seek" is not a movie that adds anything new to the genre or is being great in any way. It's also at the same time not the worst film but with a better approach and execution this movie at least could had been an efficient and average one. I now really can't say that about this movie sadly and therefore also can't really recommend it to anyone.
5/10
Watch trailer
No comments: