Labored, Clichéd and Boring

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 2011)

I went into this with high expectations as the saying goes, along with my two friends; we even hung around to catch the late nite session because strangely our cinema complex only had two showings a day of this hot new release. Huh?
We were three of twelve people sitting in the theatre. Huh? Apparently on opening day earlier in the week, due to all the hype that has apparently infected the IMDb ratings, the admission lines for this film had caused a minor traffic problem. Where was everyone? Regardless we three certainly expected two hours of lively entertainment and hunched down in our seats. We overlooked the first thirty minutes and the awful soundtrack. We glanced at each other as we went into the next thirty minutes: 'Nice camera work,' one of us said. By the one hour mark I was wondering when the movie was going to get going. Yes, there was Ryan Gosling, he's okay for an automaton, maybe that's the character. There's a sort of clichéd love interest - single mother with young son. Yawn. Oh, here's some sort of Goodfellas type character. Hmm, OK. Gosh the dialogue is sparse but maybe that's a good thing because when the actors do speak it sounds pretty lame. Oh, here we go, something is going to happen now. Ah, someone is killed. A scene in a strip club. That's original. Violence and gore. Right. But when is this thing going to take off? Check the watch. Probably another 30 mins to go. Hmm, well may as well see it through. Oh, it's over? That's a pleasant surprise. Great let's get the hell out of here.
'What was that?' one of my friends asked.
'It was one of those movies where all the good stuff is in the trailer,' said the other.
We all agreed.
The plot is dullsville. The acting is robotic. The night cinematography is technically excellent. None of the characters are likable. The dialogue is clichéd. The pace is labored. The sound track is awful. Hypnotically bad.
At least by the end of the movie I'd solved two mysteries - why there were only two sessions for a new release and why people stayed away in droves after the opening. Obviously people are voting with their feet.