"It just plays out like a short series of a TV show".

Rating: 5/10 (29 April 2017)

This movie is a good example of how a book can work poorly as a movie. Books don't work the same as movies. They're broken up into segments, and have multiple semi- climax points throughout, to keep the reader hooked in each chapter. To adapt a book to a movie, you kind've have to rewrite it, to make it flow better. I don't feel like this movie achieved that. It just plays out like a short series of a TV show. The way the main Casey Affleck's character moves from one case to another mid movie just stalls the progression of the story, and the little boy in the bath sequence didn't make any sense to be in the movie. I think it would've worked better if they stuck with the Amanda case the whole way through the movie, instead of going back and forward. It just made it confusing, and not interesting enough to try and work out.
Visually, this movie is nothing special. Similar to the story, its shot like an episode of CSI. There's nothing theatrical about this movie. No great sound design, no great cinematography, no real stunt work. It just seems like it was filmed quickly, cheaply, and executed poorly.
I will admit, in the end when the story finally comes together, it all makes sense, but by that point, it was just like "yea, fine... it was him the whole time... next movie".