QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 4, 2015 -> 08:52 PM)
That's officially nuts.
First of all, Emily Blunt is a bit miscast in that role...she's too naive, weak, timid and it doesn't come close to matching her recent action characters. She is basically dominated by all three male characters that she interacts with in the movie.
Second, while del Toro was GREAT in his role (which was mostly being menacing and mysterious), some of the plot machinations in the final 1/3rd of the movie weren't exactly the most logical. They moved the story from point A to point B, but not in a coherent way.
Some like it better than No Country for Old Men (another Brolin role), but movies like John Wick, The Equalizer and especially Man on Fire with similar themes are much more entertaining. CRASH was much better as well.
The first scene in the house and then the tense border standoff in the traffic jam...those were the best scenes by far. You don't need to have dramatic, Fast & the Furious style car chases, explosions and CGI to create an atmosphere of tension and foreboding. Maybe the best example of this is Steven Spielberg's very first move in the early 1970's, DUEL, with Dennis Weaver. You don't even SEE the driver of the truck that Weaver is having it out with the entire movie.
I would say 95 out of 100 filmgoers would see a movie like Gravity or The Martian and prefer those latter two.
From a filmmaker's perspective, I can APPRECIATE it, but at the same time not thoroughly enjoy it...
I agree with this. After the scene at the border, I was into it but than it just dragged.
The whole tunnel sequence looked like a video game and not a good one.
I've never been a huge Benicio guy. He seems to be the same in everything I see. His whole thing was predictable.
It looked good. That was about it.