Review of The Mermaid (2016) by Kman5473 — 29 Jan 2017

This film is extremely enjoyable and entertaining. Totally worth watching! It's also fairly creative. However, it feels so much like the last half of this was written by a completely different writer than the beginning that it only leaves audiences confused and unsatisfied. The first half on it's own earn the first 5/10 points. It was creative, fun, and extremely well-written! However, it sets up for a completely different direction. I was expecting that the tension would continue to build solely from Liu and Shan's relationship continuing to build. I think it could have been much more well-rounded if the two were to fall deeper and deeper in love, and Shan would continue to struggle with her internal conflict: kill the man she loves to save all of her people from certain extinction. The way the movie begins, I was expecting for construction of the resort Liu had invested in to be put to the point where the builders are just about to start, still confident in his belief that Shan was just making everything up the whole time. It would have been far more interesting if more tragedy was put into the conclusion; that Liu was punished for his hubris by obliviously and inevitably causing the death of Shan and all the merpeople.

Instead, we get an extremely violent/action-film style act 3 complete with lots of murdering, and out-of-context stunts from Shan that don't really make any sense for her character. She and the merpeople are all seen only wading water and swimming peacefully at the beginning. Then, all of sudden (because it's the climax!) she's this incredibly agile action character.

And the ending? Falls flat. Very deus ex-machina.