Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Writer: Macon Blair (Screenplay) William Giraldi (Novel)
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgard, Riley Keough, James Badge Dale
Plot: After the deaths of three children suspected to be killed by wolves, writer Russell Core is hired by the mother of a missing six-year-old boy to track down and locate her son in the Alaskan wilderness.
Runtime: 2 Hour 5 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Messy and Confusing
Story: Hold the Dark starts when a young boy becomes the latest victim of the wolves surrounding an Alaskan town, his mother Medora (Keough) writes to a hunter an author Russell Core (Wright) in hope that he will come and destroy the wolf that took her child.
When Russell heads out into the darkness that covers Alaska, he sees the wolfpack and believes he sees another child taken by the wolves, leaving him to deal with the police who were waiting for any suspect to fall into their laps and after Vernon (Skarsgard) returns from Iraq, he looks to get revenge on the wolves that took his son, only there is a biggest conspiracy being covered up here.
Thoughts on Hold the Dark
Characters – Russell Core is an author and wolf expert that gets called to help hunt down the wolf which has been killing the children of the local area, only to discover a much bigger problem going on in the town. Vernon is the solider that has returned from war to find his son dead, he wants to work getting revenge on the responsible one. Medora is the woman that calls in for the help, while we also meet cops that are looking to get to the bottom of the killings.
Performances – This is a film where you don’t want to say anything bad about the performances, because it is more of how the movie is made that makes anything bad, Jeffrey Wright does make his character feel distant, while Alexander Skarsgard does show the grief, otherwise nobody gets to do anything more.
Story – The story here follows an author that is called to look into a string of deaths involving children and wolves and soon finds himself in the middle of something much deadlier. Well I think this was the story, it isn’t shot very well to show the story unfolding, it seems like there is a lot more going on, but it didn’t give us enough information, looking to create a more shock filled moment with plenty of blood over creating an idea to what is going on.
Horror/Mystery – The horror does come from seeing how people are reacting to losing their children, which shows the panic, only for the mystery to try and take over, without giving us enough to work on as an audience member.
Settings – Alaska should be a wonderful setting, it does show the darkness that would be felt there at certain times of the year, but doesn’t take us into the environment enough.
Special Effects – The effects are used to show the injuries the people suffer, with the shootout being the one scene with the most going on within it.
Scene of the Movie – Shootout.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Hard to follow.
Final Thoughts – This is a disappointing outing from a director that has usually done wonderful things, it is slow, confusing and messy to keep up with.
Overall: Disappointing throughout.
