Review of Apostle (2018) by Arta B — 27 Oct 2018

The trailer for Apsotle immediately captures attention. The movie itself ... progressively less so. The story, once one has sorted it out, is simple. There is very little history, but that may be irrelevant.

As Disraeli said (I believe it was him) the road to hell is paved with the best intentions and the perversion of ideals by power are the themes here.

Visually very nice, with a contant brooding atmosphere, the movie gets the tone right. The dialogues are a different matter and pendulate between pretentious, non-sensical and outright ridiculous. That is not to say that there aren't moments of clarity, but those are too few and too far between.

There is one very effective scene of ritual murder, which only a sadist can derive pleasure from. The worst thing, which nullifies everything else, is the truly risible and non-sensical deity, revealed too soon. After its first appearance, one might as well stop. There is a semi-neat twist to the tale, but, come resolution time, most will have lst interest.

Oh, and there's an appearance by a Pyramid Head-like creature that exemplifies the many inspirations this film too abundantly draws from.

For NETFLIX on a rainy evening, OK.