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Released by: Lionsgate
Released on: October 6th, 2015.
Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Drea de Matteo
Year: 2015
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The Movie:
Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL may have been an international sensation, but DARK PLACES really doesn't come anywhere near its artistic level of success. This is an overlong, poorly constructed thrill-less "thriller" with French finger bowl depth characters and distractingly intentionally muddy cinematography.
Charlize Theron is Libby Day - a woman who was the survivor of a brutal family massacre as a child. It's a very IN COLD BLOOD setup. A rural family, slaughtered in their farmhouse beds. The convicted killer - whom Libby fingered - was her brother Ben (Corey Stoll). He's been in prison for decades and Libby has never really recovered. She lives a weird existence from hand to mouth subsisting on the donations of true crime junkies and is unable to work. But as time marches forward, people's attention has wandered onto newer sensationalistic crimes. So when Libby gets a letter from creepy true crime aficionado Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult), with a cash offer for participation in something called a "kill club", Libby takes him up on the offer. Wirth's group is a cold case focused investigative club, and the other members are fairly strange individuals. They seem to have a specific goal in mind - to prove Libby's brother innocent. Libby - more interested in the cash she's getting from these folks than anything else - is willing to play along and explore the notion that she suffers from "false memory syndrome".
For a film that deals with such provocative themes - child murder and sexual exploitation and occult based crime - DARK PLACES comes off as curiously flat. A lot of that is down to Theron's performance which is technically good but so devoid of emotion that it's very difficult to become interested in her. Libby is a very unpleasant character. Peevish and emotionally closed off, Theron lays on the icy demeanor demeanor so heavily that the viewer just checks out on her. Once the kill club start digging and Libby's brother becomes more involved in the plot, things pick up for a bit but then DARK PLACES moves into its final and faintly preposterous act. The other problem is the film's annoying flashback heavy structure which skips from the 80's to the present. One bright spot is Christina Hendricks (TV's red headed Mad Men bombshell) as Libby's doomed mother. She's quite good.
Flynn's Gone Girl novel would do a far better job of being both provocative AND engaging.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Lionsgate's 2.35:1 framed 1080p AVC encoded transfer is technically sound but be warned. This digital production was shot dark and detail isn't its strong suit. At various points you'll be lucky to make out a finger. The cinematographer and director also like to play games with processed and filtered sequences, including black and white and extra grainy scenes. When the action is set outside in daylight this is a very strong presentation though, with very nice detail. The audio is covered by a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that has no notable problems. It's not all that boisterous save for a club scene where the LFE makes a rare pronounced appearance, but the audio essentials are solid.
The 23 minute making of doc is provably more interesting than the film itself. Flynn and Theron talk about their approaches to the material and are quite interesting. This is a step above the usual EPK fluff. The other feature is a nine minute interview with Flynn where she talks about the differences between the film and the novel. Fairly involving stuff if you are interested in the process of writing as craft and the challenges of adapting novels to films.
The Final Word:
Meh. DARK PLACES has a good cast and interesting premise but gets bogged down in a messy and poorly constructed narrative. Theron's performance is hard to acclimate to and the cinematography is often showily distracting. And the denouement is a mess. Pass.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
