Simply bland

Rating: 3/10 (1 September 2019)

This movie left me repeatedly wondering how such an interesting concept could be portrayed so blandly. Pitt is charismatic and charming as the coffee shop man, and his Caribbean accent was spot on, but his attempt at making Joe Black mysterious doesn't ever show any emotion at all. Hopkins also provides no emotional depth to his character, reacting with bizarre calm when told things that should be truly terrifying. The few times that he does, the emotions seem very muted, downplaying the events that he is reacting to. Everyone else's performances are equally forgettable, but I was honestly surprised to see such blandness from the usually memorable Pitt and Hopkins.
The cinematography was also unmemorable. It reminded me of the early age of US films, where most movies were based on plays or written as a play, intentionally refusing to change the scenery or show anything other than cookie-cutter lighting and camera angles, utterly failing to take advantage of the play's transition to film. Likewise, the music also never swells with emotion or attempts to make the score memorable in any way.
A bland and forgettable film is bad enough, but when it's stretched out to a 3-hour length, it makes for a truly poor excuse for art.