Not as good as Hereditary but still good in it's own way

Rating: 6/10 (29 November 2019)

Midsommar tells a story we've seen before only in a different way. It is pretty much "The wicker man." Except it's also kind of it's own thing. What I like about Ari Asters films is his use of emotional shock. Right from the get go into this movie you get hit with it hard and it carries on through the main character. The problems I found with the film is that it is predictable and that's what makes it not as great as Hereditary. You know the direction this film is going in before it gets there and even with its chills and thrills you're not really all that surprised by what happens when it does happen but the story is told in a beautiful way. The movie feels a bit overly long but it has some of the best scenes I've seen in a while.
I also felt that the movie kind of flip flops around when it comes to which character is taking the high road or the low road. Dani isn't exactly the hero of the story and her boyfriend Christian isn't exactly the villain either. Christian is stuck in a relationship with a needy and emotionally unstable girlfriend who he wanted to break up with but ended up being stuck with after she endured a tragedy. Christian being the good guy put himself through the torture of sticking with Dani even though he was already tired of her but felt pity on her since he was the only person she had left in her life.
There seemed to be a lot more than could have been done with that story line alone but somehow in the movie it flips to make Christian look like the bad guy for not being faithful to a woman he didn't even love but forced himself to be with and Dani being selfish and needy and not realizing that she's selfish and needy becomes is treated as a hero in the end.
It's a strange story but I think that's what they were going for with this film. It's a solid 6/10. I wouldn't watch it again because it's too long and kinda drags on in parts but it was worth a first time run through.