Where I Watched it: Netflix
English Audio Description Provided By International Digital Center
Narrated By Frankie Corso
Written By Dakota Green
I’m not a fan of the excuse that something is a slow burn, so that’s why we should forgive the film. Any film being discussed by critics shouldn’t get a pass for feeling longer than it should, or dragging, by simply calling it a slow burn. It’s this overused term, but if the payoff isn’t at the end of the film, then the film fizzled and burnt to nothing. Arguably, that is where Reptile lands.
It’s not that Reptile isn’t intriguing. in fact, I think I gave it far more credit than it deserved for a while, as I thought the movie was headed in a much more complex direction, one it seemed to hint casually at, but I figured would lay more into in the final moments of the movie. The plot revolves around a real estate agent (Justin Timberlake), whose wife is mysteriously murdered, and the detective (Benecio del Toro) assigned to investigate. Alicia Silverstone also makes an interesting dramatic turn as she reteam a with her Excess Baggage co-star.
But, even though there are really specific plot points that point to perhaps the film having something in common with a Leonardo DiCaprio film, the road taken ends up being less interesting, and therefore I felt like I slogged through the swamp for nothing. No one in the cast delivers a bad performance, but none of these are really career bests. Del Toro is clearly the biggest example, because with his body of work, this film never really stood a chance of being a career defining work. He’s fine though.
For a movie directed by someone whose credits are a ton of music videos, this movie is surprisingly dark and grim, with very little light or electricity moving through the film. it takes a rather straight forward procedural approach, leaning on the “things aren’t always what they seem” and “everyone is a suspect’ tropes of the crime genre, instead of exploring the complicated history of Del Toro’s officer, and how that might affect his judgment moving forward.
The audio description follows through on delivering a lot of the clues along the way to help you piece things together. Who is doing what, who is lurking in the background, what piece of evidence is on the ground, and so on. I suppose the ending isn’t a massive twist, but if you want the film to go in a more interesting route, feeling almost like it could have been directed by a much better filmmaker, you will be disappointed.
It’s not stylish or smart enough to be called a rewarding slow burn. The performances are solid enough, and I did find some enjoyment in following what I thought was a far more complex path. But, no one will remember this a year or two from now.
Final Grade: C+
