Review of Resolution (2013) by Norman B — 12 Oct 2013

Resolution opens with Michael receiving a distressing email containing unsettling footage of his old friend Chris, heavily drugged up, showing signs of self destruction. Following a map included in the email, Michael finds Chris squatting in a run down, empty house in the middle of an Indian reservation. He handcuffs Chris to a pipe in the house imposing a week long intervention in a last ditch effort to save his friend from the black hole that is addiction.

In between helping Chris to confront and wrestle with his inner demons, Michael explores the surrounding area and encounters a bizarre assortment of cult members, violent drug dealers, the threatening Native American owners of the house he and Chris are residing in, a mentally ill girl who watches him in his sleep, and a French researcher who shares a darkly cryptic message. Michael also slowly begins to uncover a mysterious story, told in segments in the form of VHS tapes, film reels, cave paintings, and vinyl records he finds littered throughout the reservation. He then discovers that the subjects of the eerie tale being told through these old dusty artifacts are some how he and Chris.

There are key moments where innovative ideas are supposed to be represented on screen, but these moments lose their potency due to uninteresting camerawork, unconvincing acting, and amateurish directorial choices. For example, throughout the film, Chris is meant to be battling a fatal addiction that is harming his body. He vocalizes his pain often, but what we are shown does not convey the agony he speaks of. At worst he appears as if he's fighting off a killer hangover not life threatening withdrawals.

Though Resolution does provide a few scary moments and some thought provoking imagery it frequently stumbles on its numerous missteps in execution. It aims to be a knockout, but hits more like a jab. Resolution has some flaws it's important that films like it get made and that filmmakers like Moorehead and Benson continue to aim high and take chances in the near future.

Resolution is admirably ambitious and inspired work, but its inconsistent execution, unbalanced storytelling, unconvincing performances, and one of the weakest endings you'll ever see hold Resolution back from being an above average horror flick.