I love a good mystery / thriller! One that satisfies my desire to play detective, solving murders and crimes. Allowing me to put together the puzzle pieces and clues provided in the movie to arrive at the most satisfying and logical conclusions.
Other times I just wish to be intrigued watching the various characters, their harrowing journey and experiences, the dangers they have to face and the jumbled confusion they need to sort through. Then eventually their choices and acts that lead them to the inevitable final conclusion.
At times though the final conclusion leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like these four movies... Now don't get me wrong. Some of these are well-liked movies and well-rated even. Some even fit the genre of mystery / thrillers perfectly. But they just didn't do it for me.
Disclaimer:
The following WILL DEFINITELY HAVE some SPOILERS so DON'T READ beyond this point if you don't wish to be spoilt!
Listed in no particular order...
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Reason: Don't fall into the genre
The plot...
A doctor had his world turned upside down on night upon hearing his wife's frank disclosure of her sexual fantasy, namely a particular young naval officer. The disclosure so disturbed him that he sets him out for a night of adventure where he had several sexual encounters, finally landing at a secret house party.
The entire movie has a dreamy, surreal feel to it. The pacing moving along at glacial speed. Honestly Eyes Wide Shut just doesn't fall into the mystery/thriller category!
Yes there are some intriguing ideas and scenes in it. Gliding along with Tom Cruise's character through the secret party and witnessing the ceremony with him was fascinating. The whole thing is shot so well, it's eerie and bizarre for sure but also strangely captivating.
Yes, the movie does have an air of mystery to it but does anything get solved at the end? I honestly can't say that the movie did that. We do have the sense that the doctor character is perhaps experiencing his adventures in a dream. Where does the dream start and where does it end? It's entirely too jumbled to quite make out with certainly. Then it all ended with a lot more questions at than answers.
Placing Eyes Wide Shut under the thriller genre is like making a big, unfunny joke. The pacing just doesn't do it but more than just the pacing there was never any sense of real danger to the characters. Nothing ever really happens to Tom Cruise's doctor character and you get the sense that he is somewhat immune to whatever is going on around him, which is in line with the theory that it is all just a dream. But if it's all a dream and nothing is ever going to happen to him then you start to wonder why the hell we are even watching the whole thing.
There is never really any sense of urgency or thrill to the entire proceeding. To tighten up the plot, we could just cut from the wife's frank disclosure scene to the last scene when they concluded that all they had to do was F***.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Reason: What did I just watch?
The plot...
Mulholland Drive follows an amnesiac woman as she narrowly escapes a seemingly dangerous situation. She then encounters a perky, young actress and together they try to search for clues and put together the missing parts of her memory. All this is happening in a backdrop of Hollywood casting and auditions with a hit man getting and carrying out killing contracts, threats by a cowboy and a riveting performance at the mysterious nightclub, Silencio.
Mulholland Drive had a really great start with so much potential for the mystery / thriller genre. A dangerous situation... An escape... Lost memory... Figuring out the whos and the hows and the whys... The threats and killings... Everything promises so much.
And then delivers nothing.
It all remains a mystery even after watching it in its entirety. Sure I get it, the movie is sort of a prelude after which you get to unravel the mystery on your own. The real answer to the mystery, I guess, you will never quite know for sure. It might be that I am just not a fan of puzzling out an entire move after it has ended.
There are strong and ardent supporters for this movie, a movie said to be steeped in symbolism. So fine I went and did my research, read up about what everything all means. Turns out its just another movie with dreams and reality interwoven with each other. Hello again, 'Eyes Wide Shut'.
Well, I say that's just disappointing. I don't even bother unraveling my own dreams why go unravel another's.
Gone Girl (2014)
Reason: Not a mystery / thriller (at least the mystery part was easily figured out! Then, there is its rubbish commentary on marriage
As a thriller it was alright, though it does gets a little tedious. And at least in the first half of the film, there was a good bit of mystery to it too.
The plot...
The story starts with the disappearance of the wife on the fifth anniversary of the couple's marriage. The police are called in and an investigation is underway. Soon, little clues start pointing to the husband as the main suspect. Did he kill his wife?
Sounds like a great plot for a mystery / thriller right? Wrong! Halfway through the movie that question is answered and you realize what kind of psycho he is actually married to. Because really, only a crazy person would go to all the months of trouble of plotting to frame her husband for murder.
And it seems like she has done it before, framing her previous two boyfriends for various other crimes. But... and wait for this... She does nothing to the two lowlifes who hit and robbed her in her room. Nope, she just let them escape her wrath unscathed. So it seems like only boyfriends and husbands are not immune to her psychotic behaviours. And why is that I wonder?
Oh yes, because she surely can use the victim card. Thanks a lot Gone Girl for showing that a woman throw around accuses like domestic abuse and sexual assault so cavalierly only as a way to draw sympathy from the public and get the upper hand in the marriage. God forbid these are real problems that people sometimes face in relationships / marriages.
Then comes the last 10 minutes of the film when the wife's character replies "No, that's marriage" to her husband's description of how they were before "... all we did was resent each other and try to control each other. And cause each other pain."
Is that some kind of message of what marriage is? I should hope not!
But then what does the movie do. It ends off with the couple coming to terms with that idea of marriage (psychotic as it is). And then bringing a child into the mix no less.
The husband knowing what the wife has done - committing murder and all, winds up staying in the marriage? Because what? Marriage and relationship makes people go all crazy and psycho and it should be acceptable.
Rotten message!
Their onscreen marriage is unhealthy and should hardly be considered the norm. The movie does a great disservice to wives and hell, even to husbands in abusive marriages. That is not normal at all and if you are in such a f***ed up marriage / relationship, GET OUT is the thing to do and not stay.
Oldboy (2003)
Reason: For its disturbing message
Boy, this one was hard. And to be honest, I still don't know if Oldboy deserves to be on this post. Especially at this time when I am just discovering Korean films and have really liked the two others that I have watched - Parasite (2019) and The Chaser (2008).
Plus Oldboy really has such great aspects that fit perfectly into the mystery/thriller genre.
The plot...
A man is kidnapped and kept locked and isolated in a room for fifteen years with no explanations whatsoever. All he has for company is a bed and television set. Just as randomly it seems he is released and so he begins his hunt for answers and the person responsible for his fifteen-year long capture.
Sounds like an intriguing plot with such great potential. Here we have a thrilling mystery ripe for the plucking. And it was going great as well, until it wasn't... And that was when the ending was revealed. Sure it was a unique one but there was just a little something off for me.
The theme of the movie was definitely an issue. Even if I might shrug off the violence (which felt very unnecessary most of the time), I don't quite see how the sufferings of the protagonist is in any way justified.
Sure, he opened his 'big mouth' while he was at school about the incestuous relationship of a pair of siblings. But it is not like he pasted posters of it all over the school. He told a friend who probably told another and word spread like wildfire. Kidnapping him and then wasting away fifteen years of his life for this mistake seems somehow extreme in itself but apparently that wasn't enough. He had to have his mind f***ed with, so that he ended up cultivating an incestuous relationship of his own too.
Then he goes off cutting out his own tongue implying that he was the ultimate bad guy who should have just kept silent about the siblings' relationship. Excuse me, but last I heard incest was frowned upon. Maybe he did start the gossip but he paid a great price for it already. I so wish he had at that point put his immense fighting skills (which had been on display in other scenes) to use and done away with his enemy and spared us all his crying and sniveling at the feet of the guy who wronged him.
And then I was left to wonder - why the protagonist and antagonist look like they were more than ten years apart in age? They were in the same school and looked to be about the same age then. Couldn't the casting at least have been more palatable, if not the ending.
There are more issues I had but for now it might be better to end it here. I might do a standalone post about Oldboy with a more complete take on it in the future.
*Meanwhile I recommend you check out these 10 Good Mystery/Thriller Movies if like me you enjoy this genre too.
Other times I just wish to be intrigued watching the various characters, their harrowing journey and experiences, the dangers they have to face and the jumbled confusion they need to sort through. Then eventually their choices and acts that lead them to the inevitable final conclusion.
At times though the final conclusion leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like these four movies... Now don't get me wrong. Some of these are well-liked movies and well-rated even. Some even fit the genre of mystery / thrillers perfectly. But they just didn't do it for me.
Disclaimer:
The following WILL DEFINITELY HAVE some SPOILERS so DON'T READ beyond this point if you don't wish to be spoilt!
Listed in no particular order...
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Reason: Don't fall into the genre
The plot...
A doctor had his world turned upside down on night upon hearing his wife's frank disclosure of her sexual fantasy, namely a particular young naval officer. The disclosure so disturbed him that he sets him out for a night of adventure where he had several sexual encounters, finally landing at a secret house party.
The entire movie has a dreamy, surreal feel to it. The pacing moving along at glacial speed. Honestly Eyes Wide Shut just doesn't fall into the mystery/thriller category!
Yes there are some intriguing ideas and scenes in it. Gliding along with Tom Cruise's character through the secret party and witnessing the ceremony with him was fascinating. The whole thing is shot so well, it's eerie and bizarre for sure but also strangely captivating.
Yes, the movie does have an air of mystery to it but does anything get solved at the end? I honestly can't say that the movie did that. We do have the sense that the doctor character is perhaps experiencing his adventures in a dream. Where does the dream start and where does it end? It's entirely too jumbled to quite make out with certainly. Then it all ended with a lot more questions at than answers.
Placing Eyes Wide Shut under the thriller genre is like making a big, unfunny joke. The pacing just doesn't do it but more than just the pacing there was never any sense of real danger to the characters. Nothing ever really happens to Tom Cruise's doctor character and you get the sense that he is somewhat immune to whatever is going on around him, which is in line with the theory that it is all just a dream. But if it's all a dream and nothing is ever going to happen to him then you start to wonder why the hell we are even watching the whole thing.
There is never really any sense of urgency or thrill to the entire proceeding. To tighten up the plot, we could just cut from the wife's frank disclosure scene to the last scene when they concluded that all they had to do was F***.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Reason: What did I just watch?
The plot...
Mulholland Drive follows an amnesiac woman as she narrowly escapes a seemingly dangerous situation. She then encounters a perky, young actress and together they try to search for clues and put together the missing parts of her memory. All this is happening in a backdrop of Hollywood casting and auditions with a hit man getting and carrying out killing contracts, threats by a cowboy and a riveting performance at the mysterious nightclub, Silencio.
Mulholland Drive had a really great start with so much potential for the mystery / thriller genre. A dangerous situation... An escape... Lost memory... Figuring out the whos and the hows and the whys... The threats and killings... Everything promises so much.
And then delivers nothing.
It all remains a mystery even after watching it in its entirety. Sure I get it, the movie is sort of a prelude after which you get to unravel the mystery on your own. The real answer to the mystery, I guess, you will never quite know for sure. It might be that I am just not a fan of puzzling out an entire move after it has ended.
There are strong and ardent supporters for this movie, a movie said to be steeped in symbolism. So fine I went and did my research, read up about what everything all means. Turns out its just another movie with dreams and reality interwoven with each other. Hello again, 'Eyes Wide Shut'.
Well, I say that's just disappointing. I don't even bother unraveling my own dreams why go unravel another's.
Gone Girl (2014)
Reason: Not a mystery / thriller (at least the mystery part was easily figured out! Then, there is its rubbish commentary on marriage
As a thriller it was alright, though it does gets a little tedious. And at least in the first half of the film, there was a good bit of mystery to it too.
The plot...
The story starts with the disappearance of the wife on the fifth anniversary of the couple's marriage. The police are called in and an investigation is underway. Soon, little clues start pointing to the husband as the main suspect. Did he kill his wife?
Sounds like a great plot for a mystery / thriller right? Wrong! Halfway through the movie that question is answered and you realize what kind of psycho he is actually married to. Because really, only a crazy person would go to all the months of trouble of plotting to frame her husband for murder.
And it seems like she has done it before, framing her previous two boyfriends for various other crimes. But... and wait for this... She does nothing to the two lowlifes who hit and robbed her in her room. Nope, she just let them escape her wrath unscathed. So it seems like only boyfriends and husbands are not immune to her psychotic behaviours. And why is that I wonder?
Oh yes, because she surely can use the victim card. Thanks a lot Gone Girl for showing that a woman throw around accuses like domestic abuse and sexual assault so cavalierly only as a way to draw sympathy from the public and get the upper hand in the marriage. God forbid these are real problems that people sometimes face in relationships / marriages.
Then comes the last 10 minutes of the film when the wife's character replies "No, that's marriage" to her husband's description of how they were before "... all we did was resent each other and try to control each other. And cause each other pain."
Is that some kind of message of what marriage is? I should hope not!
But then what does the movie do. It ends off with the couple coming to terms with that idea of marriage (psychotic as it is). And then bringing a child into the mix no less.
The husband knowing what the wife has done - committing murder and all, winds up staying in the marriage? Because what? Marriage and relationship makes people go all crazy and psycho and it should be acceptable.
Rotten message!
Their onscreen marriage is unhealthy and should hardly be considered the norm. The movie does a great disservice to wives and hell, even to husbands in abusive marriages. That is not normal at all and if you are in such a f***ed up marriage / relationship, GET OUT is the thing to do and not stay.
Oldboy (2003)
Reason: For its disturbing message
Boy, this one was hard. And to be honest, I still don't know if Oldboy deserves to be on this post. Especially at this time when I am just discovering Korean films and have really liked the two others that I have watched - Parasite (2019) and The Chaser (2008).
Plus Oldboy really has such great aspects that fit perfectly into the mystery/thriller genre.
The plot...
A man is kidnapped and kept locked and isolated in a room for fifteen years with no explanations whatsoever. All he has for company is a bed and television set. Just as randomly it seems he is released and so he begins his hunt for answers and the person responsible for his fifteen-year long capture.
Sounds like an intriguing plot with such great potential. Here we have a thrilling mystery ripe for the plucking. And it was going great as well, until it wasn't... And that was when the ending was revealed. Sure it was a unique one but there was just a little something off for me.
The theme of the movie was definitely an issue. Even if I might shrug off the violence (which felt very unnecessary most of the time), I don't quite see how the sufferings of the protagonist is in any way justified.
Sure, he opened his 'big mouth' while he was at school about the incestuous relationship of a pair of siblings. But it is not like he pasted posters of it all over the school. He told a friend who probably told another and word spread like wildfire. Kidnapping him and then wasting away fifteen years of his life for this mistake seems somehow extreme in itself but apparently that wasn't enough. He had to have his mind f***ed with, so that he ended up cultivating an incestuous relationship of his own too.
Then he goes off cutting out his own tongue implying that he was the ultimate bad guy who should have just kept silent about the siblings' relationship. Excuse me, but last I heard incest was frowned upon. Maybe he did start the gossip but he paid a great price for it already. I so wish he had at that point put his immense fighting skills (which had been on display in other scenes) to use and done away with his enemy and spared us all his crying and sniveling at the feet of the guy who wronged him.
And then I was left to wonder - why the protagonist and antagonist look like they were more than ten years apart in age? They were in the same school and looked to be about the same age then. Couldn't the casting at least have been more palatable, if not the ending.
There are more issues I had but for now it might be better to end it here. I might do a standalone post about Oldboy with a more complete take on it in the future.
*Meanwhile I recommend you check out these 10 Good Mystery/Thriller Movies if like me you enjoy this genre too.
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