Review of Demolition (2016) by Carfan1999 — 11 Aug 2016

The best that I can say about Demolition is that it tries to be different. It takes the familiar concept of dealing with loss, and making it into an unique experience. With all the movie's metaphors done literally, very quick edits, and committed performances from all the actors, it nicely tries to tell a familiar story in a different way.

However, remember that I said tried. That's because the end result is an uneven mess. The main plot is about a man who can't feel grief after the death of his wife. So he does the metaphor of demolishing his former life and starting a new one, literally.

He bulldozes his own house, gives permission for someone to shoot him, hooks up with a girlfriend, and helps her son with his own personal problems. Now that's a lot of plots in one film. Sadly, while all these stories are nicely handled in the first two acts, the whole thing falls apart in the ending.

Some things are thrown in at the last minute that aren't necessary and some main story elements never get a resolution. There are questions that simply never get answered. In addition, while the main character does these metaphors literally- which is unique, it also makes him unrealistic as I'm sure the average person wouldn't destroy their own house in order to restart their life.

Overall, Demolition is a mixed bag. It tells its common story in a new, unique way and has stellar acting. But while its unique, the story is overstuffed with plots/ subplots, the main character is unrealistic, and everything falls apart in the very messy ending.

Demolition attempts something new and different, but doesn't fully succeed at doing it.