Characters speak softly and deliberately, though often with ominous intent. [This is a repost of my review from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. There are so much negative reviews but it's really beautiful. Not just because it was filmed where I live :) You need to feel your way through it. Director Jeremy Saulnier’s last effort, “Green Room,” stands as one of the 21st century’s best films. Wolves, snow, lots of suspenseful music and that's about it, An atmospheric success that is far from perfect, Saulnier's trademark violence and craftsmanship make for an epic, atmospheric fusion of genres, Jeremy Saulnier's Latest Is Also His Weakest. It has something to it that keeps you going. The Indian hunter said "your father said you are unnatural." ‘Hold the Dark’ Review: Jeffrey Wright Battles Wolves and Demons of the Alaskan Wilderness in Jeremy Saulnier’s Unpredictable Survival Saga — TIFF Netflix's Hold The Dark is a pitch black movie with an ambiguous ending - from the wolves to the humans in wolf's clothing. 4. I can't clearly determine what "Hold the dark" is: a sophisticated film that seems mindless or a mindless thriller that seems sophisticated. I don't know what I just watched. Set in a remote area in Alaska, the film is extremely dark and extremely violent, and deals with overwhelming grief, supernatural occurrences, and immeasurable human cruelty. Rating: C- Related Content Good for Netflix for giving it distribution and adding a good film to its catalog which is plagued with more poor quality than good quality. Hold The Dark is rather unwell. And there are many implications and hints across the movie that shows that "indirectly." Hold the Dark, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and released exclusively on Netflix is a fascinating exercise in atmosphere and subverting expectation. And it just goes from bad to worse. Frank Mengarelli 2 years ago. Reviews; September 29, 2018. The new Netflix Original Movie Hold the Dark Explained little about what it actually means by the close of the film. Beautiful cinematography, no plot, no resolution. Here is the movie explained. Awards Hold The Dark is Netflix's newest movie, and I had high hopes for it. It's photography and alaskan scenery are often gorgeous. The movie was well shot and every scene seemed to keep me wondering how the movie would come to an end. This film has no concept or plot. From there Core discovers that the wolves may be the least of his concern. I really liked Jeffrey Wright in this - haven't seen too much of him elsewhere. Hold the Dark probably isn’t one of the best films of the year but it is a phenomenally bitter, violent work. The more time you invest in this adventure, the more painful it becomes to admit that this movie is beyond redemption, that nothing normal is going to happen and that you wasted two hours of your life. The wolf mask, they both had it. They you start watching it and it's all downhill from there. Hold the Dark is a violent, visceral film, but it can leave you cold in more than one way. TweetEmail TweetEmail Review by Stephen Tronicek Behind every bloodsoaked frame of the four features of Jeremy Saulnier there’s something deeper, darker to be explored. Hold the Dark is nonetheless absolutely worth watching, and a worthy addition to Saulnier’s expanding filmography. Review by andread Pro. The dialogue and acting is superb; Saulnier has a knack for making character exchanges seem so natural. There’s a bit of bait and switch going on in this murky, brittle novel. “Hold the Dark” occasionally explodes into stunning violence, particularly an extended shoot-out sequence with local police, including one well-played by James Badge Dale, also the star of an excellent TIFF Midnight Madness film, “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek.”. Hold the Dark is something different, a tale with a sense of grandeur and mythic scale. Hold the Dark review: Netflix's “enigmatic and violent” chiller won't be for everyone Hold the Dark is the latest Netflix movie offering - A Time for Wolves or just for brutal bloodshed? This is the third film I've seen from director Jeremy Saulnier, Blue Ruin being an all-timer revenge thriller, and Green Room being one of my more recent disappointing experiences. It forces us to confront a menacing otherness that lies beyond the typical order of things. The camera lingers on the expansive forest and frozen tundra, creating a … The end. And yet Saulnier endeavors to mimic the cold, desolate setting of his story in the filmmaking, resulting in a humorless, bleak, unforgiving movie. Skarsgaard goes around killing people. Hold The Dark Review 5th October 2018 11th November 2019 Jamie Humphreys 0 Comments hold the dark, netflix, thriller, wolves. Hold The Dark is a 2018 adventure set after the deaths of three children suspected to be killed by wolves, and a writer hired to track down and locate a missing son in the Alaskan wilderness. Jeremy Sauliner doesn’t fuck around. Spike Lee Receives American Cinematheque Award, America Has to Come to a Reckoning: Director Sam Pollard on MLK/FBI, The TV Homages of WandaVision are an Amusing, Unfulfilling Distraction. I'm stunned at how bad it was. Hold the Dark opens in theaters and streams on Netflix on Sept. 28. I loved Green Room, but this was a very different movie. Review: HOLD THE DARK A flawed, fascinating journey into the wilderness. Anyone who caught a glimpse of the trailer would be certain a genre-meshing treat was on the cards, but 'Hold the Dark' fails to fulfil on that eerie expectation by the time the anti-climactic ending happens. Half way through I was hoping everyone would shoot each other and put me out of my misery. It’s a dark, brutal, unsettling but yet intriguing narrative being presented. The following review will be spoiler free. Clearly, all the ingredients are there. After watching Hold The Dark I felt compelled to read the novel by William Giraldi. Nevertheless, I am here to explain the points and subplots of this movie. Hold The Dark (2018) movie review. Slow, dull, there was a sense of dread but that was more from sheer boredom. Which is only 66.6% correct. Starts with the cryptic, monotone voice over, which is now a cliche to tell you,"Ohh, this is so mysterious and spooky." Will Hyland. Hold the Dark keeps you at arm’s length for a very long time as you try to figure out just what it is. SEE ALL 26 REVIEWS. | Read full review. Often, it strikes you within the first few minutes. The pictures inside the drawe, the second picture shows a bow and a girl sitting as a family by lake. HOLD THE DARK … Hold the Dark opens in theaters and streams on Netflix on Sept. 28. Hold The Dark isn't a film that's easy to throw on in the background, with a group of friends, or even on a random day of the week. Saulnier is too much of a craftsman to make a complete disaster and there are a number of ideas and scenes in “Hold the Dark” that display that talent, but the piece never comes together like you want it to, always feeling like it’s just out of reach as a commentary, thriller, or even escapism. Jeffrey Wright plays a naturalist who has been summoned to a town where wolves seem to be snatching children. Then you have the more frustrating films. The scene when he was looking for his wife in the hotel, the woman said "you both have the same eyes and same hair" External Reviews In “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room,” Saulnier grabbed his viewer and refused to let them go. This article spoils the shit out of Netflix’s latest exclusive feature, Hold the Dark. But you never arrive. There is a vastness to … ), Hold the Dark has been on my radar for a long time. It also screened at Fantastic Fest on September 22, 2018. Characters speak softly and deliberately, though often with ominous intent. It was released on September 28, 2018. Hold the Dark like his previous projects has great performances, gorgeous cinematography (shot in Alberta), a dark/gloomy story/atmosphere/mood, and a very intriguing story but unlike his previous two projects, suffers from its slow burn pacing. I'm still not convinced this guy belongs in anything but that silly show he was in about vampires. In the end, it’s a brutal slog of a film, admirable in its fearlessness in terms of dark subject matter, but the brutality doesn’t feel worth it in the end. Saulnier, the man behind Murder Party (2007), Blue Ruin (2013), and Green Room (2015), has become an extremely reliable and continually interesting source for genre entertainment. With Hold the Dark, Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier crafts a bleak, unforgiving film with an ever-increasing body count. Brian Tallerico is the Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. The movie held my attention because I didn't want to miss anything that would confirm what I thought the film would be about. Read all news including political news, current affairs and news headlines online on Hold The Dark Review today. Hold the Dark Review: Dark, Unforgiving and Fantastic. This film is more of a meditative, atmospheric, slow burn with occasional bursts of extreme intensity rather than a standard thriller. Avoid. Sep 14, 2018. Vernon is the brawn to Russell’s brain, and his arrival seems to unleash something inhuman in the area. | Great job reviewing, its always nice to see a review that takes an honest look at its subject, but when you add your input and personal taste it makes it so much better. Hold the Dark is the type of film you allow your brain to pluck at before fully deciding how enjoyable it is. It still manages to move and explore just as effectively. The cinematography was absolutely stunning; leave it to Saulnier to remind us just how red blood really is against the snow. Skarsgaard is useless. I rarely rate movies but this time I felt compelled due to the fact this movie was such a let down. Hold the Dark is as cold and distant as its setting, and rather than braving the environment, it will just probably send you looking for warmth. He's one note in everything he does. I'm dumfounded. It's a deeply dark movie on so many levels. Both intimate and epic, it is appropriately cold, resisting warmth at every turn, more a philosophical adventure than an emotional one. I'll tell you. If you're in the mood for a disturbing film and sometimes we all are, this is a good one to watch with a pot of something hot, a bowl of popcorn and a blanket. It is very ambitious, not at all what the trailer sells it to be, and doesn't quite stick the landing. And as 90% of all the other reviews state, the plot is unintelligible, slow, and pretentious. There is a vastness to every scene that makes you feel just how small people are against this cold, unforgiving land (and makes one question anybody’s decision to settle there in the first place). Based on Hold the Dark by William Giraldi Directed by Jeremy Saulnier Starring Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough, Irene Bidel, Julian Black Antelope . Hold the Dark review: Netflix's “enigmatic and violent” chiller won't be for everyone Hold the Dark is the latest Netflix movie offering - A Time for Wolves or just for brutal bloodshed? Who reads something like this and says, "My God, people need to see this! Hold The Dark boasts delectable performances on the backdrop of blood, snow and wolves, which struggles to land anywhere meaningful at the last hurdle. 3 VIDEOS | 86 IMAGES. Hold the Dark is a quiet film punctuated by moments of explosive violence which, as always, Saulnier frames matter-of-factly and never revels in. ‘Hold the Dark’ | Netflix Original Film Review Howl at the moon. But it never did. “Hold the Dark” occasionally explodes into stunning violence, particularly an extended shoot-out sequence with local police, including one well-played by James Badge Dale, also the star of an excellent TIFF Midnight Madness film, “The Standoff at Sparrow Creek.” Clearly, all the ingredients are there. Jeremy Saulnier's film is a thriller set in Alaska, in which a hunter is hired to find a boy, who's been reported missing. Hold the Dark Review: Netflix’s Wolf Thriller Ends Up a Howling Disappointment. Hold the dark is another kind of thriller, set in Alaska and it projects a supernatural feel to it even from the beginning. Only moments later, the boy is gone. Read full review Ridiculous. Maybe people like a movie that just ends without giving any reasoning or premise, or maybe the director tried too hard. Hold the Dark review – Netflix chiller aims high, lands somewhere in middle. The mood looks promising. After reading the novel I then understood the movie in its entirety. Hold The Dark isn't a film that's easy to throw on in the background, with a group of friends, or even on a random day of the week. But Jeffrey Wright's performance is worth a view alone. After the deaths of three children suspected to be killed by wolves, writer Russell Core is hired by the mother of a missing six-year-old boy to track … To say this movie was a disappointment would be an understatement as vast as the Alaskan wilderness it was filmed in. As her husband is her brother. If you were expecting Jeremy Saulnier’s latest film to be as intense and terrifying as Green Room, prepare to … HOLD THE DARK opens on Bailey Slone (Beckham Crawford), a young boy playing with toy soldiers on a mound of snow in front of his rural house in a remote village in Alaska. Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable view. Hold The Dark Review. Facebook; Prev Article Next Article . If you were expecting Jeremy Saulnier’s latest film to be as intense and terrifying as Green Room, prepare to … Hold the Dark is brutal and bleak Arctic noir. He’s also remarkably good at staging moments, and Hold the Dark, his adaptation of William Giraldi’s blood-snow-and-wolves novel, has a handful of indelible ones. I read some previous reviews, mostly negative, some positive. It's the third in a series of instances where children have disappeared from the area, all of them thought to have been carried off by wolves. The anticipation for Hold the Dark was high for this reviewer as its director Jeremy Saulnier had shown strong promise with his two previous features, Green Room (2015) and Blue Ruin (2013).. It’s a little unfortunate to say that his third outing comes up short, mainly due to … I had high hopes for this, having enjoyed his previous movies so much, and Hold the Dark didn't disappoint. It has a lot of things going for it. FAQ It will hardly be a memorable film but I think it's worth it. There will be a few spoilers throughout this review. Ending explained. User Ratings | Written … In those cases you can either embrace the awful or simply switch it off. The use of space and setting is actually the best quality of “Hold the Dark.” Saulnier and Blair make Alaska feel like a place where any number of things can kill you—cold, wolves, or even the insanity brought on by too little sunlight. Adapting a book of the same name by William Giraldi, regular Saulnier collaborator Macon Blair (also the star of “Blue Ruin”) transports viewers to the bleak, snow-covered landscape of Alaska. No clue, what the plot was. A.S. is convincingly robotic as the injured returning war vet bent on making things right in his stark and twisted mind - taking everything out on everybody. Still, the film never coheres outside of those flashes, ultimately delivering a disappointing, confusing, but undeniably fascinating experience. TV-MA | 2h 5min | Action, Drama, Thriller | 28 September 2018 (USA) 0:31 | Trailer. Netflix has just released their finest original content when it comes to their feature films. And yet Saulnier endeavors to mimic the cold, desolate setting of his story in the filmmaking, resulting in a … WARNING: Major spoilers for Hold The Dark. Visually, Hold the dark is one of those films that I wish I could see on a big screen rather than online. But you get the feeling that he was like that before he even left for the war. Equal parts bloody and beautiful, Hold the Dark may finally prove to be Saulnier’s breakout feature film for the more casual viewer to finally take note of his name. This is an advance review from Fantastic Fest. Deliberate and almost witnessing the events as if he was the one watching the movie. Director Jeremy Saulnier has made a name for himself with ultra-violent, existential thrillers Blue Ruin and Green Room, and his latest twists that into something even more primal about the human condition. Hold the Dark is a surreal mystery about a fictional remote Alaskan village, Keelut, beset by wolves that are apparently taking children. Such a shame. This a good movie. Hold the Dark has too many stops and starts to build up the tension enough to sustain the film. Hold the Dark, his latest feature, is currently sitting somewhere in the mid-to-high 60’s on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. At least Hold the Dark is a beautifully haunting-looking film, thanks to Saulnier and cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck. Hold the Dark is now available on Netflix.]. Then watch again. Shantanu David, October 2, 2018, 12:46 IST explore: Movies After my first time watching the movie I was really left with many questions that needed answering. First look review Toronto film festival 2018. Critics Consensus. I've seen Saulnier's previous work (Green Room and Blue Ruin) and liked both movies although there were no clear messages sent throughout them. Planning to watch Hold the Dark? It’s a thriller that makes you think up to the end. This review was filed from the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13th, 2018. Hold the Dark is something different, a tale with a sense of grandeur and mythic scale. 3 Responses to “Hold The Dark Review: An Unsettling Yet Fascinating Experience” Makoa Bryson on October 11th, 2018 8:47 pm Leave it to Chris to make me want to watch a movie I’ve never heard of. She calls in an expert on the animal in an effort to try and get her son back named Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright), but the quiet, intellectual man is quickly overcome by the violence of the area, a violence intensified when Medora’s husband Vernon (Alexander Skarsgard) returns from military service overseas. Only Dale gives a performance with any sort of energy with Wright, Keough, and Skarsgard looking almost like the walking dead at times, moving through the inevitable brutality of the plot in a way that’s designed to make “Hold the Dark” more mysterious and intense but actually serves the opposite purpose. User reviews are even harsher, with the film tagged as “confusing”, “full of plot-holes” and “depressing”. Most of the reviews written is because they didn't understand the plot of the movie or what it represents. N'T care less about him or anyone else in this film is more concerned with tone, atmosphere and than! Would be about me start by saying that this movie is not completely garbage be prepared to … what?! Felt compelled to read the novel I then understood the movie Drive, which was.... Left for the war it needs to be prepared to … what happened slow,,! Disappears one day, presumably taken by wolves that are apparently taking children leave it to the fact movie! 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