Lou – Movie Review
Director: Anna Foerster
Writer: Maggie Cohn, Jack Stanley (Screenplay)
Cast
- Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
- Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey)
- Logan Marshall-Green (Upgrade)
- Ridley Asha Bateman
- Matt Craven (Jacob’s Ladder)
Plot: A storm rages. A young girl is kidnapped. Her mother teams up with the mysterious woman next door to pursue the kidnapper, a journey that tests their limits and exposes shocking secrets from their pasts.
Runtime: 1 Hour 47 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Lou starts when a storm rages on the island community, Lou (Janney) is preparing to end her life. While her neighbor and tenant Hannah (Smollett) is trying to keep things together for her daughter Vee (Bateman).
When Vee’s father Philip (Marshall-Green) arrives in the area, he takes Vee. Hannah turns to Lou for help, as the pair head out into the storm, through the woodland area to rescue Vee. This sees Lou using her past skills to track the ruthless soldier through the woodland storm.
Verdict on Lou
Characters
Lou is a reclusive woman living off the grid with her dog. The locals know her but know to avoid her. She is an expert survivalist who uses her skills to help her tenant get her kidnapped daughter back. This is a broken character, one that has been through and done horrible things in the past.
Hannah has been in hiding with her daughter, and she rents off Lou, as the pair try to have a normal life. After Vee is kidnapped, she turns to Lou and joins her in tracking her missing daughter. She isn’t used to the typical fight in the open wilderness, learning as she goes along.
Philip is Vee’s father, he uses his skills to take his daughter back, kidnapping her during a storm. He has a skilled past that makes him a deadly weapon.
Vee is Hannah’s daughter, she becomes the pawn in the game between Philip and Hannah, with both wanting to give her a great life.
Performances
Allison Janney is brilliant in this role, continuing to show there is life in the older actors as action stars. Jurnee Smollett is great as the woman who is trying her hardest to give her daughter a fresh start, her character evolves along the way. Logan Marshall-Green is always great as the creepier villainous figure in any movie, this is no different.
Story
The story follows two women who must put their differences aside to track down one’s kidnapped daughter. It takes them through the woodland area during a storm, as secrets about them both slowly start to get revealed.
This is a good story, as it puts an unlikely pair together through difficult conditions to save a kidnapped child. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, that keeps everything feeling fresh, even if certain ones feel like you could see them coming.
It ends up keeping everything simple without needing to make anything complicated. Being everything we needed in the story to keep us on edge.
Themes
Lou is an action thriller that uses the storm to create horrendous traveling conditions. The woodland to make the terrain difficult to navigate if you aren’t an expert. When it comes to the action, we get some good fight sequences, showing off the different character’s skills in combat.
Where to Watch: Lou is available on Netflix now.
Final Thoughts – Lou is a tense action thriller, with plenty of twists along the way.
