Riveting to a point, not flawless. Great acting

Rating: Null/10 (18 October 2015)

Well, not exactly... I did like it overall, if maybe liked it a lot. But there was some disconnect between a lot of what I was feeling. Visually and directorially, I think it's a great achievement. Fukanaga really knows how to carry a scene, and he doesn't milk anything for sentimentality. Technically, the film is a marvel. But something about it was also making me doubt how much I was liking it. I was getting lost in its world and something kept nagging at me, and it wasn't until it was over that I sort of realized. Elba is great no doubt, but by making his character be the central conflict in the film, I feel like the film forgets what the real horror here should be, which is the war. It definitely comes down to the screenplay. There's nothing inherently bad about it, it's definitely not a bad screenplay by any means. But it also works around what its themes should be too easily. There's such a clear structure and formula at play here, and some of it (like I said previously, mostly revolving around Elba's character and the conflict there) just seems to rise from obvious tweaks and manipulations in the script. Yes, all filmmaking is a manipulation, but the key is to not make the audience notice. The second half of this especially felt like it was playing it too conveniently. I don't know how to exactly word what I am feeling, but all I know is that, thematically, what it did concentrate on should've been able to hit harder because of a connecting link to the atrocities of war and humankind. instead, that's not how the film comes across by the end. Something. just. didn't. click. Not to any totally debilitating manner, I still like the film. But something here wasn't handled as well as it should've.
Yes, Elba is totally supporting and that should be his Oscar campaign. He makes the role work wonders, hiding some of the script's weaknesses. Abraham Atta is amazing though.
Never overdoes any of it and the film is all the better for it. I definitely need to rest up more on my thoughts on this film to see if I have less (or more) of a problem than the one I mentioned here.