Well, that's original; a suspenseful thriller cleverly disguised as a teen-drama-flick, mostly marketed toward girls. But is it truly all that clever, original and suspenseful? It actually is being the opposite of all of that.
And really, these are the three main problems with this movie; it's not original, it's never being clever or surprising enough with anything and it most definitely never turns into a suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat, type of thriller. It's obvious that the story is mostly to blame for this. The directing approach, visual style and acting really isn't all that bad, but when you're stuck with a story that's being both formulaic and simplistic there is only so much anyone could do with it really.
It's fair to say that this is a movie by the numbers. It plays out exactly the way you expect it to do, without ever taking an unexpected turn with anything. There of course are a couple of twists throughout the movie, but thing about them is that you can either see them coming from miles away already or they are just far too unconvincing and uninteresting to make much of an impact on the story and the movie in general.
In the end the movie also leaves far too many 'how's' and 'why's'. Too many loose ends if you will, despite the fact that the story wraps things up- and ends satisfactory enough. There however remain a few many things that just don't add up and are never made credible enough, especially when looking back at it. It actually really goes at the expense of the movie its suspense and mystery as well. The Bella Thorne still remains too much of a mystery, which is convenient for the movie but leaves the viewers with too many questions. It's always hard to care for a movie and its characters when too remains unexplained and things just, more or less, happen for the movie, without a decent (or perhaps rather said convincing-) enough build-up.
It's definitely a movie that plays things safe. It ensures that it never goes too far with anything. This however also ensures that at the moments the movie does turn into a shocking and somewhat violent one it just doesn't feel right and out of tone. It remains an otherwise fairly tame genre movie, which is not all that surprising, considering how it mostly tries to cater towards a young teenage crowd, of the female sex. No raunchy or graphic sex scenes, not all that much blood and no moments that will make you jump from your seat.
But it's like I often say; there just is far too little in this movie for me to hate it. It's isn't doing an awful lot wrong, which is mostly because it isn't doing very much at all. It's a movie by the numbers, that plays out without surprises or any real originality in it and fails to leave much of an impression. At the same time I'm also still sure of it some teenage girls are still going to be able to enjoy this movie. It's just that type of movie. Some shirtless guys, a bunch of kissing, a love-triangle, some hip pop-songs. Not saying that people are stupid for liking this movie, but it's obvious that it's catered towards a very specific demographic. It does this well enough, without ever turning into a very memorable or truly great movie for anyone.
5/10
Watch trailer
And really, these are the three main problems with this movie; it's not original, it's never being clever or surprising enough with anything and it most definitely never turns into a suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat, type of thriller. It's obvious that the story is mostly to blame for this. The directing approach, visual style and acting really isn't all that bad, but when you're stuck with a story that's being both formulaic and simplistic there is only so much anyone could do with it really.
It's fair to say that this is a movie by the numbers. It plays out exactly the way you expect it to do, without ever taking an unexpected turn with anything. There of course are a couple of twists throughout the movie, but thing about them is that you can either see them coming from miles away already or they are just far too unconvincing and uninteresting to make much of an impact on the story and the movie in general.
In the end the movie also leaves far too many 'how's' and 'why's'. Too many loose ends if you will, despite the fact that the story wraps things up- and ends satisfactory enough. There however remain a few many things that just don't add up and are never made credible enough, especially when looking back at it. It actually really goes at the expense of the movie its suspense and mystery as well. The Bella Thorne still remains too much of a mystery, which is convenient for the movie but leaves the viewers with too many questions. It's always hard to care for a movie and its characters when too remains unexplained and things just, more or less, happen for the movie, without a decent (or perhaps rather said convincing-) enough build-up.
It's definitely a movie that plays things safe. It ensures that it never goes too far with anything. This however also ensures that at the moments the movie does turn into a shocking and somewhat violent one it just doesn't feel right and out of tone. It remains an otherwise fairly tame genre movie, which is not all that surprising, considering how it mostly tries to cater towards a young teenage crowd, of the female sex. No raunchy or graphic sex scenes, not all that much blood and no moments that will make you jump from your seat.
But it's like I often say; there just is far too little in this movie for me to hate it. It's isn't doing an awful lot wrong, which is mostly because it isn't doing very much at all. It's a movie by the numbers, that plays out without surprises or any real originality in it and fails to leave much of an impression. At the same time I'm also still sure of it some teenage girls are still going to be able to enjoy this movie. It's just that type of movie. Some shirtless guys, a bunch of kissing, a love-triangle, some hip pop-songs. Not saying that people are stupid for liking this movie, but it's obvious that it's catered towards a very specific demographic. It does this well enough, without ever turning into a very memorable or truly great movie for anyone.
5/10
Watch trailer
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