Review of Erased (2012) by Tharis — 08 Jan 2014

Been in something of an action thriller mood lately, but this film had me to the point where I actually groaned at some of the scenes. I'm not sure why they needed to the gimmick of having the daughter be on the rollercoaster with her CIA father, but it ruins what little they may have gained with Aaron Eckhart in the lead role.

Often times when I see an actor or actress doing something wrong in terms of how to accurately portray emotions without appearing over the top, I blame the director, especially in an instance where I have seen the same actor nail a more difficult and confusing emotion. There are too many scenes in this movie where the players feel like they are being forced to try too hard. The worst offender (be it her own fault or not) is the young Liana Liberato some of the emotional change ups she conveys are just too unrealistic, even for a 14-15 year old girl that she is supposed to be playing. It would appear though that the director didn't coach Aaron in his role (which would make sense given as much star power as he has these days), as it seems he's the only one of all of them that gives a consistent and overall good performance.

Erased, was likely a labor of love, for the writer Arash Amel and much care was taken to give the dialogue an authentic feel, however the delivery of the lines makes them feel campy and clichéd. Too bad that the director had to ruin his own movie so much.