Dark Night (2016) User Reviews

A cerebral film that tries to be a modern telling of Harmony Korine's Gummo and a mixtape of Terrence Malick's current work

[Mighty-Morphin · 4/10 · 2 May 2019]

Dark Night tries to grasp at a lot of straws in it's modest runtime, and aims it's sights into the heart of America's current problems. It's slow pacing only adds to the themes presented, yet makes the viewer ask for more in the array of abstract characters and locations. The film could be construed as a form of performance art rather than a motion picture. The lack of clear goals and characters make it a thinly veiled film that feels hollow and begging to seek attention onto it's mirroring of realism.

Four out of ten stars.

Great title.

[bastos · 3/10 · 6 March 2022]

While watching this, it's impossible not to think of Gus Van Sant's Elephant, as it's a very similar concept. But, unfortunately, it also shows how superior Elephant was. I remember watching the trailer and becoming very curious about this movie as I thought the title was excellent. But there is very little else to admire. It's just a collection of random uninteresting people, going about their day, doing uninteresting stuff, and then, just as randomly, it ends. It's so slow that it doesn't burn.

no Elephant

[kevin c · 1/10 · 25 March 2018]

The director adopted the right approach in not sensationalising the cinema atrocity. It's just after 5-minutes you get it that the characters collectively mesh into a portrait of a dislocated society. You then have to sit through 80-minutes of skateboarding, selfies and PS4 violent games.

Gus Van Sant's superb Elephant this is not.

What did I just watch?

[claws0922 · 2/10 · 20 August 2017]

I started watching this thinking it was a documentary about Aurora and it's aftermath. It took me probably 10 minutes to figure out that was wrong. There's no through line except they all end up in the same place at the same time, and I guess that's the point? But as you don't know any of the characters (don't even get names in most instances) there's no emotional connection to anyone other than "this is a terrible thing to have happen" in general. The desire here to go all artsy left the film with a void of emotion. We don't even know why the guy does what he did or get any sense of him at all. A boring, pointless film and I'll never get that time back. Originally rated a 3 but writing this review has made me dislike it even more.

Awful

[danprdn · 1/10 · 3 August 2017]

Was this a student project? Trying to be existential and having problems staying awake mar this movie from the beginning. It's feeble attempt to try to be "deep" is annoying. The individuals who gave this movie any rating above a 2 must be relatives of the filmmakers. Avoid this movie at all course...it's a waste of time.

Plot less slideshow

[yurikovzel · 1/10 · 27 March 2017]

I can describe this movie a pointless slideshow with messy sound exploiting mass shootings theme. The movie is trying to be realistic and naturally paced but its sound design is anything but realistic. It is somehow inverted, highlighting ambient background for now particular reason except being disturbing and serve to jump scare viewers.

The worst of all that this movie will only be shown during film festivals meaning that it will be watched by viewers who actually love and cinematography. I strongly recommend to skip this work of art and rent Gus Van Sant's Elephant instead.

Watching paint dry would be more interesting

[lyndalu-45740 · 1/10 · 10 August 2017]

Is this film a joke? The camera shows random people doing the most boring tasks like sitting on a couch in silence, and that goes on for several minutes then cuts to someone else doing absolutely nothing. I don't even know what this is supposed to be about. It's as if you give a video camera to the most boring person in the world and ask them to film other boring people doing boring things.

The dark night in our hearts and souls

[qeter · 7/10 · 24 October 2016]

Seen at the Viennale 2016: Put the blame on me, that I do not rate 8, 9 or 10 stars. To be honest I would rate it 6 (lower rating as it maybe should be, due to low budget, only one real actress, not even a real script it seems, and partly boring), but the sad beautiful music by Maica Armata lifts it up to a solid 7. The movie starts slow, very slow... and for sure you have to sit it through for the first 30 minutes. You should have a good afternoon nap and be 100% awake and attentive for this one. This is filmmaking at the highest intellectual level possible. The brain of Tim Sutton must be working like Rubik's Cube. At the beginning all bits and parts are all over the place. Slowly and then suddenly everything falls perfectly into place. Only 85 minutes are needed to spread out the overwhelming tragedy of the impossible coming true, the shooting of people in the dark room of dreaming and soul wandering, the cinema, by a young adult. And Sutton manages to pull away the carpet of security beneath our feet. We stay for a moment swaying at the abyss. Human kind is not safe, will never be safe, as long as people are not able to dream their own life in a friendly future. Sutton does not show the killing itself. Only several kids/adults during the day before they went to the cinema. But the horror builds up. Not because of the action in the movie itself, but because we know what will happen after the cameras have been turned off. Dark Night is a must see: the 85 minutes give us time to think different about the ambush - maybe in a more human way. Shall we think about such a horror in a more human way. Human mess will always be part of our life. Listen to Maica Armata to enjoy the good and the bad.

Boring

[sandraeverhart-jackie6677 · 1/10 · 16 June 2017]

How this movie got a Metascore of 61 is beyond my comprehension. I am all for creative cinematography and movies representing today's culture but this movie can be described in 2 words. IT SUCKS. Boring and pointless. I got no insight into the lives of the victims or the killer. Who were the victims?? Who was the killer?? I was hoping for a look into what was a horrific event but all I got was 90 minutes of boredom.

Tim Sutton is a great American filmmaker

[freekyfridays · 10/10 · 15 March 2016]

Tim Sutton's DARK NiGHT (USA) took the exact opposite approach as Quentin Tarantino & Alejandro González Iñárritu towards exploring his horrific subject matter… by NOT exploiting it.

Loosely based on the Aurora, Colorado massacre in 2012, in which a gunman killed 12 and wounded 70 moviegoers attending a screening of Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNiGHT RiSES, this haunting, slice-of-life exploration of the random events that led the townsfolk to the movie theater is paced like Claire Denis' Friday NiGHT (2002) and Gus Van Sant's ELEPHANT (2003). In fact, the cinematographer Helene Louvart, who shot Wim Wenders' PiNA (2011) and Agnes Varda's THE BEACHES OF AGNES (2008), was the perfect fit for the director's intense visual style.

Combined with MEMPHiS (2013) and Pavilion (2011), Tim Sutton is an American filmmaker who is attempting movies that not only are beautiful to look at, but melodic to experience, no matter what the subject may be.

Review taken from 2016 Sundance Film Festival wrap up at www.48hills.org

I don't get the hate

[stephenhawthorne-78218 · 6/10 · 9 August 2021]

Watching this is not meant to be exciting, we all live mundane lives and that is what this film is saying.

Ordinary people going about a routine day can just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. From the ordinary to the extraordinary. The director doesn't exploit the people we don't know, there is no violence and what happens to the people is left ambiguous deliberately.

Pointless

[dcarsonhagy · 1/10 · 1 May 2017]

"Dark Night" is a poor excuse for a "documentary." Supposedly about how the lives of six people intersect while watching a movie, during which a massacre of some sort occurs. This scenario was already done FOR REAL at a theater in Aurora, Colorado.

This turd MIGHT have been palatable had the director bothered to identify any of his characters. You know no one's name. No character has a back story--much less a "front" story. What you have are mindless, boring characters mumbling their lines (swear to God this needed sub-titles), explaining nothing and headed to nowhere. And if this film wasn't bad enough, the viewer must endure constant incessant caterwauling by someone who has mistaken himself/herself for a musician.

I could not find ONE thing redeemable about this. It was yet another wasted few dollars--choosing a movie where the synopsis is leaps and bounds better than the actual product.

Unrated but contains brief nudity and language.

This Evoked Almost NO Emotion

[shmarie · 2/10 · 6 August 2017]

If this wasn't based loosely on the real tragedy in Aurora, CO then it would just be a complete waste of time and film. They went above and beyond trying to be "artsy" and "ambiguous" and in doing so, they decided to substitute their version of "mystery" with any meaningful dialogue and sense of intrigue. You do not get to relate to ANY one of the characters at all because there is 0% character development. The one merit it had was that, if you stand the banality of the film and the "characters," you really do not know definitively who the shooter is (although I had a pretty good idea).

40 Minutes and I can't take anymore

[kelleyhenson · 1/10 · 10 September 2017]

The only value of this movie is going to IMDb to read the over the top hilarious comments of what has got to be by far the most boring film I have ever seen. What's worse is that I am a Colorado native and worked at the mall where the shooting took place. You would think I would have a vested interest in seeing it through its entirety but, like everyone else said, I can't get those minutes back. Truly awful and if this is meant to be art-house or artsy, I have completely lost the point.

Horrible

[jaykarmafp · 1/10 · 27 August 2017]

Save yourself and time from watching this. It is the worst film I've ever watched and I've watched really bad movies. There is no real plot, no real dialogue the connects the characters together like claimed. To many filler scenes, no kind of action. Really boring can't get back the time I wasted watching this, so do yourself a favor and avoid this save the time for something else or a actual good movie.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[f-bass · 1/10 · 4 March 2021]

The sub-title in the UK reads like this : A bunch of stangers doing every day mundane stuff till they witness an act of extreme violence. I sat through the mudanity for 90 mins, and then the film ends.

Where was the ' act of extreme violence ' ?

Tragically useless film and 90 mins out of my life. I could have painted my kitchen

I can't take it anymore

[mpsawesome-88852 · 2/10 · 27 November 2020]

I can't take anymore, I got though about half an hour and I don't care about the movie at all. There's almost no dialogue, the characters do not feel relatable, it hasn't focused in on any one person really, and the musics not great. It's supposed to be a movie with this deep message about society's impact on all these people but nothing has moved me or touched me or even interested me in anyway. Check these dudes out: they're skateboarding, check these peeps out: they're vaping, look at how social media rules this girls life. It's so bad. The only reason I gave it a 2 is because it has good cinematography, but that's it.

Total Garbage

[Joetampa90 · 2/10 · 13 September 2017]

Want to see everything that is wrong with modern art house? Watch Dark Night then. Don't get me wrong there is plenty of modern art house I enjoy. But there are things that give it a bad rap. If you're interested in seeing what they are over the course of this movies run time then give it a go. I'm just gonna lay out the issues with this movie. Boring, paper characters, long scenes of meaningless drivel, lack of plot, lack of beginning middle and end, lack of really anything that makes for a good movie. A bad Harmony Korine knockoff, and if you're making movies that knock off a director with some real miss fires in there catalog you should probably find another profession.

So dull so meaningless so bad Dark Night falls flat everywhere.Don't watch this instead watch Van Sant's Elephant or Solondz's Storytelling as an example of how to pull of a film in this genre properly. 2/10. Horrible.

Absolutely fantastic

[deanharley-54431 · 10/10 · 2 November 2018]

An absolutely gut wrenchingly, harrowing look at a violent theater shooting.

Mass shooting told via ASMR

[robobalboa · 1/10 · 9 November 2017]

I mean I guess this is what this movie was about? It really had ZERO momentum and every character lived in a sound proof room with almost zero dialogue to explain who they are, what they're doing, or anything.

This is the quietest, least driven and most boring movie I've ever attempted to get through. And that's what the experience is; you TRY to get through it.

It takes an interesting subject matter: a mass shooting, it tries to tie it in with a real event: the Aurora, Colorado Dark Knight Rises theater shooting, it changes the location for seemingly NO REASON, it gives us next to no information about any character the camera chooses to focus on and then ends without resolution, without drama, without consequence, without meaning.

This movie was and is pointless.

I wish I could say it was neither warm or cold, but it's not even lukewarm, worthy to be spewed from the mouth, its air in the nostrils that comes out with a derisive snort, or wind that passes through indifferent ass-cheeks.

This is not a movie. This isn't even close to being reality. It is nothing. It offers nothing, and it takes enormous amounts of patience and time from anyone who tries to be entertained by it.

As someone who has worked at a movie theater that had a shooting take place within it, nothing rings of truth, or hyperbole, but instead is the worst parts of independent film into one long, boring ASMR slog, that punishes anyone foolish enough to give it a chance.

DO NOT GIVE THIS MOVIE A CHANCE.

I too read IMDb reviews and pushed forward figuring it couldn't possibly be that bad. It's not. It's worse.

DO NOT GIVE THIS MOVIE A CHANCE.

If your looking for anything remotely deep, or truthful, or artistic you'd have better luck watching a Transformers movie than this. This is not entertainment or Intellectual nourishment. It is masturbatory in the dullest, blandest, quietest, most soul-sucking way possible.

AVOID AT ALL COST.

Is this supposed to be art?

[MKUltraViolet · 1/10 · 16 August 2017]

I wish I could get back the 17 minutes that I wasted trying to watch this "film". I foolishly thought that this would have interviews with survivors of the Aurora massacre, maybe some insight, news coverage, maybe parts of the trial. This isn't a documentary, this isn't art, its an embarrassment. And what was the purpose of that god awful singing, if you would even call it that?

I'd rather be scooping poop out of a litter box for 17 minutes while my dog barks at the possum under the house.

Worst movie ever!!!

[jm-lf303 · 1/10 · 16 April 2018]

Worst movie ever!! Lame!! Barely any talking. Sucked!

Dull night

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 1 August 2019]

'Dark Night' was hardly something that was doomed from the start or anything. There was actually a great concept here, that had room to be interesting with at least some tension and potential to hit one hard emotionally as it was that kind of concept and one that if done right would have resonated with many. Was expecting to like it, and this is meant genuinely, not in any way maliciously or with disrespect.

Unfortunately, 'Dark Night' does not deliver and should have been much better than it turned out to be. Considering the subject and some might feel insulted, because the subject is not just interesting it is pretty raw for anybody who were victims of massacres or knew/were related to any. Waste of potential is a bugbear of mine, sorry, and 'Dark Night' is yet another case of it. Have seen much worse and it is not irredeemable, but that is not really a consolation.

The least bad thing about 'Dark Night' is the photography, which was quite striking and clever without being too self-indulgent.

Cannot really say anything else good. The execution just wasn't engaging, and should have been much more intriguing, much tighter, much more tense and with much more of an emotional impact. 'Dark Night' never really gets going and is rather cold emotionally, also found it quite bland and far too safe. Never felt shocked or illuminated, due to nothing new. Suspense is severely lacking, almost as much as the emotion, and the amount of atmosphere was not much better.

It all goes at a very sluggish pace and that the length feels over-extended and that there is too much talk that tends to badly ramble until full attention wavers quickly. The characters didn't engage or connect with me, and judging from their uninterested manner those in front of the camera/participants seemed to be feeling the same.

Summing up, poorly done. 2/10

Time waster

[steeleronaldr · 1/10 · 28 March 2020]

Could they have possibly drug this movie out any more. With minimal dialogue and virtually no character information it becomes hard to see where they are going with the movie. It's a talented cast wasted in a movie that does little to say what's going on. Few characters have almost no lines or say out of the ordinary things. Just read the write-up and move on cause it's much better than the movie itself. Even the antagonist comes off as boring, and when they said "six strangers with nothing in common they were almost point on, they all were boring which did give them one thing in common. Save 90 minutes of your life and forget this movie.

Wow what have I just watched.

[warven · 1/10 · 2 March 2019]

This is probably one of the top 5 worst films I have ever seen. Do not waste your time it will be an hour and a half you will never get back. Only gave one star as I couldn't give none.