Kara (2016) User Reviews

Perhaps the worst review I've ever read

[ianatrneville · 5/10 · 22 November 2019]

I was intrigued by the length of the previous review. It was many words. Some of them even formed coherent sentences. That's where the positives end.

I've read many reviews, and I can assure you that the poster that preceded me was a horrific example of vitriolic hyperbole and thinly veiled insecurity. I certainly hope that the OP didn't approach their students with such belligerent insensitivity. I wonder if their students had to submit their BMI rather than essays. Did their midterms consist of measuring their students hip to waist ratios? I can only imagine OP's classroom as a cesspool of toxicity where this sad angry poster cackled like the wicked witch of eating disorders while circling student's cellulite with a permanent marker a la whichever militant frat or sorority was stupid enough to let them pay to loiter. The poster of this review had no charisma. I do not like that poster. That poster sucks.

I read the whole review because I was intrigued by how bad it was. Who would invest this much time to tear down actors that they've never met? If I was back teaching I would use this review to give pointers on how not to conduct yourself on a public forum.

Kara was fine. That review was monstrous. I guess that counts for something.

Perhaps The Worst Movie I Have Ever Seen

[enofile · 1/10 · 20 February 2017]

I was intrigued by the plot of this film. It was a good story. That's where the positives end. I taught acting for many years, and the actors in Kara were horrific. They broke every rule of Acting 101. The young woman portraying Kara attempted a Rebecca Pigeon, of David Mamet fame, type of dead pan affect. It was just dead. She was suppose to be "hot" and seductive. However, if you know you might show some skin in a film, get to a gym beforehand! The actors were not attractive and had no charisma. Also, the dialogue may have been written by a twelve year old. It was that banal.

I watched the whole movie because I was intrigued by how bad it was. Who would invest in this film? The producers must have been family. If I was back teaching, I would use this film to give pointers on what not to do. Kara was amazingly bad. I guess that counts for something.

A Decent Smallish Movie Done On a Tight Budget.

[nospam-25-374977 · 6/10 · 15 February 2017]

*****There Is only one sentence that qualifies as a POSSIBLE spoiler. You will be notified right before it appears. You can safely ignore it. Otherwise, pretty much safe to read! *****

I seem to be having a run of smaller movies lately. Kara was an engaging but smallish movie that likely will not be nominated for any major awards but, nonetheless, is a pleasant watch. How to describe a so-called thriller that wasn't thrilling but yet held my attention without any "dead" spots, is a true challenge!

As of this writing, there was NOT ONE SHILL review. I give this movie company credit for that. They have seemed to have avoided the most lame, dishonest and stupid sort of attempt to trick people into buying a less than sparkling movie. Maybe the makers of this movie were proud of their little, likable movie and felt it could stand on its own. IT CAN! It is by no means exceptional but it is a good effort and it is interesting. As long as no shills appear, I give it an acceptable 6/10 stars. Should genuine shills appear I will write a follow-up and reduce its rating markedly!

For a "Spy" movie, it was extremely calm without any really exciting scenes. In fact, the movie is actually a drama rather than a thriller. It is missing any exceptional or powerful scenes.

For a low budget, possible student-type film, Kara's production values were relatively good. The photography was good but not exceptional. As the film was focused on two characters with intermittent peripheral characters appearing a few times with some peripheral characters appearing quite a few times relative to others, the photographic variety was limited. There were no scenery shots that were particularly interesting nor any other shots that were anything more than minimal for that particular scene. In other words there were no shots that would qualify as "excellent"

I apologize for being vague in my descriptions but I'm having difficulty describing very average and ordinary cinematography. While not being bad, it's still only weakly qualifies as acceptable. Audio was good in that it was fairly even, appropriate for each scene and with nothing interfering with hearing the character's speech.

The dialogue was appropriate and modestly interesting. Again, nothing really good but nothing really bad either. The eponymous "Kara" character grew on me. At first she seemed exceptionally plain, almost homely. I was especially put off by the tattoos on her neck and back which were noticeable from the get go (please be aware that I have a very unfair and unsupportable anti-tattoo bias. I think that most tattooed people are very ordinary and common and many of them think a tattoo somehow fixes that...it doesn't!!). In any case, the more I watched her and listened to her speak, the more attractive and complex she appeared. This was even though the film was very ordinary. I attributed that to her acting ability despite a very plain script and very modest production values. Though I have to say that she didn't cry very believably.

David, the other lead character, did pretty well despite the limitations of the script, dialogue and the film in general. He was likable and empathetic, at first his weird (to me) haircut kept distracting me but I eventually was able to ignore it. David had a few scenes where he was stiff....almost wooden. But he eventually warmed-up and, for the most part, did a decent job of acting.

I expect a spy movie to be interesting, suspenseful, fast-paced and prone to twists and turns. This movie only just qualifies as being interesting. Being about spies and spying was unintentionally peripheral to the characters. But, the type of spying, corporate espionage, is definitely less suspenseful than the older "could end the world as we know it" type (Tom Clancy, Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth etc.). So, such a spy yarn HAS to depend on its characters. That was this movie's best feature as everything else was, at its best, ordinary.

Corporate espionage is not my favorite type of spy movie. This one's political connotations made it more interesting than most. There comes a point where in some corporate espionage type movies (mini-spoiler alert) the amounts of money involved are so large, they could allow someone or something to actually harm a large country's economy to a significant, but not terminal, degree.

"Kara" was an OK film. There was nothing great about it. However it never dragged nor ever seemed significantly harmed by its writing. It was interesting to a nice degree. In my opinion this was a good effort by new filmmakers, writers and actors/actresses on a tiny budget and it was OK for a lazy morning or afternoon's light and not overly-involving movie. Watch it with minimal, calm expectations!

Good Luck OV