Review of Hold the Dark (2018) by Tuneison — 28 Sep 2018

I watched this film a second time because I was reading so many positive opinions I thought I might have missed something. Maybe this was just a gem of film making I overlooked. Nope, I still think it's garbage, sorry.

I can't deny that the film is very well need. The lighting of many of the scenes was visually creative and the slow cinematography helped establish the tone. It would be impossible for me not to mention that a lot of the acting is very well done and, the worst actors always seemed to be the people who had 2 or 3 lines. Basically everything on a technical level is well done and, is what saves this film from being an absolute travesty.

However, the film's biggest flaw is the script. Initially, we are presented with a very serious tone. The story is presented as realistic and, it keeps up that sense very well. All up until a character just starts shooting a semi-automatic weapon outside of a window. I get that people wouldn't be able to kill him initially from the initial shock and, many of them would be slaughtered but, how during that 30 second period of him reloading did none of the officers hit him? There were like 70 **** bullet holes and, not one person was able to land a shot on him. Not to mention from the direction and camera work of the scene, it was implying that there was like 3 people still alive. Not to mention, a semi-automatic weapon would not be anywhere near as accurate as it was portrayed to be. So the realism of the story and any believability the story had fell out of the window with that character.

Not to mention, the script itself was just very boring. Characters are essentially card board cut outs going from Point A to Point B in the story. Our main character has about as much personality as a saltine cracker and, he's the most developed one. Not to mention the story itself is so minimal I thought I had missed something which, was another part of the reason I re-watched it. I checked everywhere but, nope, I missed nothing, it's just a very weak story. I know the boring point is very subjective. Because I do accept this film has an audience and, I know for a fact after this, Murder Party and, Green Room, Jeremy Saulneir's movies aren't for me.