When somebody writes reviews saying that a film is "slow" or "boring" I usually tend to dismiss them as being from people who prefer action pictures and have simply watched the wrong movie for them personally. On this occasion I have to agree, certainly that this is a very (and I mean very very) slow film. Unfortunately, so slow that it fails to build tension. It's a good premise that demons could use humans to commit their evil and there are a couple of genuinely chilling moments in the film. So chilling that I had to let my dog into the yard half way through and a sudden unexpected noise in the dark made me jump out of my skin. There was so much scary potential there. The cast is good as would be expected, but I can't help wonder if Denzel Washington is miscast. His "cool" laid back attitude doesn't convince. Here's a guy menaced by Satan's agents on Earth, but he doesn't seem to show the slightest fear or break into a sweat. Come on - even the bravest man would start to crumble. Seeing a quick flash of the demon inside on the face of it's hosts would have made the film far more frightening (an effect used very well in "The Exorcist"). All in all, it's an OK film but it somehow misfires. I can't put my finger on why.
By all means see it, it has it's merits, sadly not enough to make the 2 hour runtime (was it really only 2 hours??) worthwhile for me. My partner has a habit of saying "that was good" at the end of most pictures we watch. There was no comment at the end of this.
By all means see it, it has it's merits, sadly not enough to make the 2 hour runtime (was it really only 2 hours??) worthwhile for me. My partner has a habit of saying "that was good" at the end of most pictures we watch. There was no comment at the end of this.