It WAS so great!

Rating: 6/10 (9 June 2016)

The first half of this movie is exceptional as it manages to recapture magic from other films like Saw, Hostile, Wild Things, and Old Boy. Being that this film is a Psychological Thriller (for the 1st half anyway) you as the viewer will naturally start trying to figure out what is real, who the main character can trust, and what are all the different possibilities that could true from the very conflicting information exchanged by the characters in the film. Just when you believe you have figured out what is really going on, there is a scene which occurs that will prove you otherwise, which is exactly what you want from A well put together Psychological Thriller. I will briefly go over how the film begins and how it transitions.
The opening scene shows our main Character "Michelle" (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead) an attractive short haired brunette, driving down a stretch of road but quickly becomes involved in a strange accident, with an invisible object it would seem.
Michelle wakes up in a dreary, unfamiliar place resembling of a dungeon and holding cell. This has a strong vibe from the movie Saw as she looks down to discover that she is restrained from being able to move far which causes her to have an immediate flight reaction, desperately trying to break her restraint and then discovers her leg is injured from the crash she was in (but seemingly does not recollect)
"Howard" (played by John Goodman) is introduced into the scene as he opens the steal reinforced door to greet Michelle and give her food and water. Michelle desperately tries to figure out Howard's motive but he is very vague with her and says he just wants her to get better. He does try to win her trust by explaining he saved her from a crash and brought her to what is his underground bunker because of an apocalyptic like attack that has occurred. Again, Howard is vague in explaining all of this, which is the norm for him. It is easy to know from Michelle's body language that she does not believe any of this being told to her and she is going to make a run for it when the first chance shows itself.
After Michelle's leg felt better she leaves the room that she had awoke in and runs into the last main character "Emmett" (played by John Gallagher Jr.) A young country man who is simple minded and a little slow. When Michelle is able to speak with Emmett privately, she begs for his help to escape, but what he tells her baffles her and is the true start of this Psychological thriller which is full of unexpected twists and turns up until the very end.
I absolutely loved how this film made me believe that I knew generally where it was going only to completely decimate my theory (3 times) as the movie progressed. The chemistry between Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman is just pure greatness in some of the more suspenseful scenes. The amount of these type of scenes definitely give the movie a serious and uneasy type vibe which manages to stay consistent for the most part, however there was a couple scenes which were very "off track" and did not vibe well with the tone and nature of the film. One of the scenes I am referring to just came off as too forced and overexagerated, which caused it to be more like dark comedy instead of suspense, which was unfortunate because this really could have been an epic scene just by toning it down. Not long after this out of place scene came some big reveals. As the movie revealed more and more truths about some of the mysteries my on edge excitement quickly turned into huge disappointment. I honestly don't know if there was ever a movie I had watched before where I transitioned from loving it to hating it so fast! So for me the ending was too over the top and ridiculous, which caused me to lose interest rather fast once I knew for sure what was truly happening. The movie is still very unique however and has some very memorable scenes executed well by the cast so I do recommend it and believe it is worth the watch but just should have, would have, could have been great movie.