Director: Carol Morley
Writer: Carol Morley (Screenplay) Martin Amis (Novel)
Starring: James Caan, Patricia Clarkson, Toby Jones, Aaron Tveit, Mamie Gummer, Jackie Weaver, Jonathan Majors
Plot: When Detective Mike Hoolihan is called to investigate the shooting of leading astrophysicist and black hole expert, Jennifer Rockwell, she is affected in ways she struggles to comprehend.
Tagline – Can you explain your place in the Universe?
Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Slow Thriller
Story: Out of Blue starts with the death of astrophysicist Jennifer Rockwell (Gummer), this brings in detective Mike Hoolihan (Clarkson) who has the reputation of being able to solve any case placed on front of her.
As Mike starts looking into Jennifer’s life, she starts learning about her childhood in a famous family under Colonel Rom Rockwell (Caan) a war veteran and hero and potential suspects within the faculty, keeping Mike on her own toes.
Thoughts on out of Blue
Characters – Detective Mike Hoolihan is a brilliant detective that always gets the case closed, she does have her own person demons and isn’t afraid to push people to the new limits to get the truth, which doesn’t always help the case in her favour. She is the only one that will put more of the puzzle together to learn the truth. Colonel Tom Rockwell is the victim’s father, a war hero after spending years in a prisoner of war camp, he has gone onto make a fortune, wanting to know the truth about his daughter’s death. Prof Ian Strammi is one of the fellow lectures on the campus, one of the main suspects even though he has an alibi for the crime. We do get other suspects, be it partners or family, which are around to keep us guessing.
Performances – Patricia Clarkson is great in the leading role, showing the determination and troubles in her life, while James Caan, Toby Jones and Jacki Weaver give us strong supporting performances through the film.
Story – The story here follows the sudden death of a brilliant astrophysicist whose death has brings in the detective that can solve any case, which sees her needing to dig into the life of the victim, one that isn’t just a what if, but dives into the greater scientific meaning of life and why we are here. Where this mystery gets lost in the story comes from trying to explain everything like it is some sort of greater meaning to what happened, rather than getting to the great cause of what happened, it seems to bypass the death and focus on the cosmos reason for life and being around, which doesn’t make it the most interesting idea for a story.
Crime/Mystery – The crime in the film comes from the death, which leads us to the mystery about just what has happened, something that gets deeper into the ideas of the universe than studying the actual crime.
Settings – The film does use the different locations to show us the world that Jennifer was living in, showing the different environments they grew up in and now work in.
Scene of the Movie – The truth.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too much cosmos stuff going on.
Final Thoughts – This is a mystery thriller that offers up something bigger, only to spend more time dealing with the greater impact in the universe.
Overall: Bogged down thriller.
