Woody Allen's most daring film

Rating: 7/10 (16 March 2014)

This movie has many brilliant moments and ideas. But I think the best part of the movie is the first hour and 15 minutes. The romance of the first 90 minutes paved the way for what would be a violent and thrilling second half. Woody Allen shines in romance and storytelling, but that's also why I didn't find the last 30-40 minutes to be that compelling. When I saw that this movie was considered a 'Crime-Drama-Thriller' movie I got excited. Those are my favorite movies. But in reality its much more a 'Romance-Drama' than anything else. There is barely any crime, and you don't see much of it on screen. I almost wish Allen stuck with his guts and brought the story a different way and kept it in his Romance wheelhouse. Nevertheless, as any other Allen movie, it has great characters. And characters that you don't particular care to root for. That's always been one thing Woody Allen does best. He makes movies with humanized characters and that are very relatable to modern day problems going on with relationships. 'Vicky Christina Barcelona' and 'Blue Jasmine' are perfect examples of that. With 'Match Point' you don't know who to root for. In fact, I particularly liked Emily Mortimer's character much more than Scarlett Johansson's. Even the title character is quite annoying at times. But overall the film as a whole is very good. It's a really solid drama that could have been brilliant as a whole if the last 40 minutes could have stayed within the mood of the first 90 minutes. Still a very enjoyable movie. 7.8/10