This movie has all the signs for a good, fun, B-movie in it but. I was also expecting to have a good and fun time with this movie but the movie as it turned out was only good and fun for its first half hour or so.
After the half hour mark the movie its story starts to kick in. Suddenly the the plot starts to get apparent but unfortunately it wasn't a very good one. I mean, I just wasn't taken at all by the whole cult plot and for me this took away a lot of the fun from the movie.
Its such a shame since the movie had all of the other ingredients to make a good and fun B-movie out off in it. The movie tries to be a throwback to the B-movie days of the '70's, in which the main character seeks for revenge and stops at nothing. It's also being deliberately over-the-top with its action, graphic violence, characters and dialog, which is an enjoyment all but yet in the end the movie still falls flat as a genre attempt.
Because of its story, the movie is lacking a good or pleasant enough pace. Most of the time things don't really feel connected, as if this movie originated from two different scripts that were being thrown together. Some elements feel really out of place, such as all of the supernatural stuff, especially toward the end. It's maybe also all because director Patrick Lussier isn't the best one out there. His movies are often barely good enough and they, as of yet, have never surpassed that level. Maybe he just couldn't handle all of the ingredients being thrown toward him and couldn't decide on what to use and what to leave out, so he just simply decided on using everything. The movie is too often heading into far too many different directions because of that.
Nicolas Cage seems in his elements in this movie and Amber Heard is a great new young star, we will hopefully hear more off in the near future. But truly great was William Fichtner, who played the most amusing role out of the entire movie and did it in such a great way. I'm sure he really had fun with this movie!
Not an horrible movie but still a very lacking attempt.
5/10
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