Director: George Clooney.
Starring: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Noah Jupe.
This marks Clooney’s 6th feature film as director with a story written by the famous Coen Brothers, Clooney himself and fellow producer, director and actor Grant Heslov, whose face is more recognised than his name.
It has a subtle and obvious storyline set in 1950’s suburban American which is all too pretty and pristine. Think Pleasantville or the pastel painted town of Edward Scissorhands. It’s an utopian town of perfect proportions where everyone knows their place and each other’s and are entirely polite to one another. However, there’s a disturbance within the neighbourhood when Damon’s family is held house hostage but is it all that it seems?
There is a lot more to it, especially the racial element that’s quite discomforting and the even with the hint of comical substance, the film is actually quite sinister, aggressive and angry as the story unfolds into an absolute suburban-like mess.
It’s a great production and Alexandre Desplat does a great score with a mixture of suspenseful tones and 50’s era pop that would populate TV themes set in that time. The film is aesthetically pleasing to the eye with everything perfectly in sync and the film is well shot, especially many of the boy's sequences.
The characters are well written and equally performed but where one might expect Isaac to steal the light from either Damon or Moore, it’s actually the child Noah Jupe that steals the show giving an absolute outstanding performance.
But it feels like it misses it's mark, lacking the punch the film should have given. Especially with the famed Coen Brothers being part of the writing behind this film; Clooney, himself has established himself as a good storyteller so you should be expecting more. Maybe it is because the story is rather linear and somewhat predictable that sets this away from the writers. Overall, even with good elements, the film as a whole is unfortunately underwhelming.
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 8
Performance: 7
Direction: 7
Story: 4
Script: 5
Creativity: 8
Soundtrack: 7
Job Description: 4
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
57% 6/10
