Drawn out, kinda dull but overall a watchable movie

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2019)

This has been one of my most anticipated movies of 2019, I've been hearing all the reviews and reactions towards it that it's a one of a kind film that's shocking, traumatic and insane to sit through. Is it that? Well not really.
Premise: A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown's fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.
I didn't need this movie to be a Hostel film or a Saw film but I needed something to justify all this press behind it. There's definitely violence here and there, but when we're talking about a two and a half hour movie, the director and the writer could've done something to fill in that time other than 5 minute moments of complete silence. Was that the horror? having to sit through long stretches of complete silence?
Good stuff I liked: the look of the village and its people, the eerie atmosphere it all gave off (but that's only there because I saw the trailer and the reviews, so I'm already expecting creepy stuff to happen). You do buy this village as a real society. The supporting characters don't get much time to shine but I liked Will Poulter and William Jackson Harper's performances. Other reviewers talk about the main couple of this movie, Dani and Christian and they go into metaphors and symbolism and that's all good to explore, but when you're putting that into a two and a half hour movie you need other stuff to support it so most of your audience can actually pick up on it with a second viewing. This movie really did NOT need to be two and a half hours.
There was nothing I loved in this movie and I don't think I'll be revisiting this movie any time soon. I get the feeling The Irishman, a movie that's a complete hour LONGER than this will keep me more involved, hooked and entertained throughout. I had to look up the director of this movie, Ari Aster, and to my surprise he also directed Hereditary, another movie that's overly long and overpraised, but I'll say Hereditary IS better than Midsommar. I might even rewatch Hereditary at some point just to make sure. But for my money Midsommar is just ok, just try and skip all the long drawn out moments of silence throughout it, you'll probably save 30 minutes of your life that way. I'll give this movie a 6 out of 10.