This is a slick, fun spy movie that is interesting enough. But unfortunately, all of the aspects of the movie that start to make it really interesting, it pivots away from with plot twists back to a more conventional story, both political- and character-wise.
A Cold War-era spy thriller is relatively easy to set up: we know the context and who the heroes and villains are. A modern era spy thriller is much more difficult: who are the heroes? Who…
Very competent thriller.
There isn’t much going on under the hood here in terms of theme, message, or filmmaking “sauce,” but what is here is all efficiently presented and compelling: everything is competently shot, the score is fun, the character performances are excellent, and the plot is gripping and well-paced, despite being a little overlong.
Most crime thrillers are the way they are because our (anti-)hero initially chooses to involve himself in the criminal underworld, and the consequences of that…
What a messy, cruel, hateful film.
If I was being charitable, I’d say it’s unclear why this movie was made. It has no sense of direction for most of its runtime, muddled themes, and very little genuine character work. The musical numbers add nothing substantive to the film— instead of elevating the characters’ perspectives through song, the plot is periodically interrupted for musical numbers to take place, then picked back up again 3 minutes later. The movie shambles on like…
Good, but left me wanting. Different themes but similar storytelling to Spirited Away. It feels like it is missing that magic moment that many other Ghibli films have though
