Review of The Tall Man (2012) by Nilufer R — 19 Sep 2012

Unsure how I came about this movie originally, but I've been meaning to take a look at it. This evening I had that chance, and I am glad I did. Let me start off by saying I have read a lot of negative reviews about The Tall Man. A chief complaint was that people expected a "horror" movie, and did not get that. Another rumbling in the reviews, was that people just didn't understand the movie. I feel that these people maybe just don't know a good movie when they see one, and lack the intelligence to enjoy something that makes you honestly think.

First of all, reading the synopsis of the movie, it should be very clear to anyone this isn't a horror flick, or a slasher movie. The synopsis puts it clearly in a psychological thriller genre with a hint of drama. Unsure how they got horror, other then maybe the art work released for it, but even that screams thriller. So going in, that's what I expected, a psychological thriller. These are either really good, or really bad in most cases.

In The Tall Man's case? Well, the movie is really good. The funny thing, watching this movie is like watching a trilogy of different movies, or a three act play unfold before your eyes. I never saw the next thing coming, and when I started to get comfortable, we move into the next act.

Without going into detail, you can expect the following:

Part 1: Pure psychological thriller. We've seen this type of plot before. Woman's child is abducted and she has to get him back.

Part 2: A sudden twist. No longer do you know what's real, and what isn't. The movie flips in a totally different direction.

Part 3: The explanation with a twist. You're no longer in the territory of thought you where when it began, and now you have a million unanswered questions. part three does it's job and answers most of them.

Is the ending satisfactory? That's up to the viewer to decide. I for one, wish they could have expanded more. But I had a general idea of why. It felt as if a few things had been left out that could have developed the ending a bit more, thus developing the overall story. But I wont complain, as I felt The Tall Man was overall really good. Maybe not Jessica Biel's best job acting, but you don't mind that as the story more than makes up for it.

I fully recommend checking this flick out.