From a purely visual standpoint, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful movie. I'd argue this is Robert Eggers' best work.
The ending of the story admittedly doesn't hit for me. While I do understand why they chose to conclude it this way, I find it a bit contradicting to the themes it set up, and therefore, I can't quite give it a perfect score. But at the end of the day, I don't mind that as much simply…
Firstly, the good stuff: The acting is really good. Hugh Grant especially kills it as a charismatic psycho cult-leader-like figure. I also deeply enjoyed the relationship between Sister Barnes and Paxton, which is shown through an excellent opening, and I respect the concept and themes that the movie portrays. Existential horror is always interesting, and a lot of people can relate to the anxiety of questioning your religion.
That being said, I always enjoy it when a story tells me…
Although I enjoyed the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda—Grande is also phenomenal as Glinda—and found Elphaba’s character compelling, this movie felt like too little butter spread over too much bread.
While the movie is fun, it's inefficient. Despite being 2h40m long, it leaves a lot of arcs unfinished or underdeveloped. I understand that it's only "Part 1", but to me that doesn't excuse leaving what feels like an unfinished story. So much does not get resolved, so much barely gets…
As Johnson's third feature length movie, you can tell he has figured this writing thing out quite well at this point. Looper builds an interesting world with creative story-telling, which easily captures your attention.
I think this is Johnson's easiest to watch movie, as it is quite economical, with entertaining action and an intriguing, yet easy to follow concept and plot. There's very little fat in this movie, so to speak. Every scene feels purposeful.
It has this wonderful ability…
