Review of Nightmare Alley (2021) by Saucyninja007 — 06 Feb 2022

Exceptional directing, acting, and production design is not enough to save "Nightmare Alley" from its massive flaws - poor pacing, shallow characterization, and a narrative that is overly episodic and predictable. Guillermo Del Toro is obviously a talented director who understands how to craft a cinematic experience and get believable performances out of his actors (Bradley Cooper delivers perhaps his best performance ever in "Nightmare Alley"). Del Toro also nails the atmosphere in "Alley" - the carnival scenes feel grimy and repulsive.

But that is where my praise for "Alley" ends. The film is egregiously long - it has no business being longer than 90 minutes considering its plot. Even worse, it squanders its time: 150 minutes later and the audience is left with barely any information about its characters. This leads me to the biggest problem with "Nightmare Alley": the central character is woefully underwritten and uninteresting. The audience is given no reason to care about his fate. He is supposed to be suave and charming but this intention never resonates. He has one motivation throughout the whole story and it is a superficial one at that. He has no redeeming characteristics (yes, even an antihero needs to have one of these). He does not change in any meaningful way. So when the film was finally finished slogging towards its telegraphed, unsurprising conclusion, I was left with the biggest "so what?" feeling in recent memory.