Directed by: Antonia Bird
Written by: Ted Griffin
In a remote military outpost in the 19th Century, Captain John Boyd and his regiment embark on a rescue mission which takes a dark turn when they are ambushed by a sadistic cannibal.
Again, I can start my review by saying that this movie was recommended to me by my dear friend Rose. Ravenous was probably the first movie she told me to watch after she found out about how much I liked Robert Carlyle. I was starting to grow suspicious of these recommendations though. Annie suggested Eragon knowing it was awful, Rose suggested 28 Weeks Later, which was good, but Carlyle's role did kind of frustrate me. ... So I started thinking what would be wrong with this one.
Ravenous seemed interesting because it deals with cannibalism. Cannibalism is an intriguing theme considering how dark it is, and it is a trusted way to give your horror movies or thrillers some kind of shock value. However in Ravenous it's not just there to shock you, it's what the whole story is about, it's one of the major themes. That is a refreshing change to how cannibalism usually is in thriller and horror genres: a fleeting detail, barely worth mentioning few times, but too disgusting to actually make a movie about that, and the wendigo myth.
Wendigo myth has been quickly tapped into TV shows like Hannibal, but since the show doesn't have actual fantasy elements to it, it's not that important. The myth has been always interesting to me, but I do sometimes what the Native American people whose culture the myth is part of think about movies like this one.
I expected this movie to be scarier since it's listed as a horror film, but the story is still intriguing and thrilling. It may start slowly but there's just enough mystery to keep you interested, when the plot starts to thicken. The plot and story just seem to go on when you think this is the story, this is what's important. That makes the movie feel longer than it is.
The story isn't close to perfect. There are many ways the plot could be improved, but this is the story the filmmakers wanted to tell, and it is good.
There are few things that made this movie seem a bit odd. It is hard to grasp the atmosphere at first, what the movie is like and what it is about, though it does clear up eventually. But there are few details that make this sometimes seem almost comedic. That weird comedic feeling that doesn't exactly belong to the film is mostly created by the soundtrack. The music is brilliant most of the times, but there are times when you can't help but wonder if they truly chose the right tracks.
Ravenous was surprisingly good, while I thought it might be a simple slasher B-movie. It's thrilling, intriguing and most definitely worth watching if violence and blood and guts won't bother you.
At the beginning of the review I said I wondered what was wrong with Ravenous. So was there something wrong? Well, let's just say that this is yet another really interesting role of Robert Carlyle's in the list of the roles I've seen him play.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
7 / 10
No comments:
Post a Comment