The story is there... but completely out of place.

Rating: 3/10 (25 January 2016)

Within the first 10 minutes of this film, I was curious as to where the writer was going to take the story. Do the mother and son break out? Do they just accept their fate and live there for eternity? Does one of them die? Well, the writers did a great job of surprising me as it seems as if they have never heard of the three act structure.
The production value, I digress, was very well done. Good direction, excellent performances, cinematography, etc. For a small budget, it was well done. That's about all I have to say I liked about this film.
Back to the story... I'm not going to spoil it here, but as I was saying before the film doesn't follow a three act structure at all. Some films can get away with this, namely some cheesy 80's comedies, but these are comedies, not dramas.In room, there's no call to action, journey to overcome a goal, obstacles in the way of that goal, point of no return, etc. There are subplots that have their own beats, but not a main story.
There is sort of a climax at one part. It happens literally half way through the movie, and then the rest of the movie is the resolution, for a whole hour in which you'll be checking the time hoping to god the movie will be over soon.
If you have ever thought at the end of a movie, once a character has overcome their weaknesses and achieved their goals, what happens after the film fades to black? The character ought to go on with life, where he or she will face more challenges to come. This film almost seems like it has a fourth act that merely explores this idea. It delves way too far into the aftermath of the events that happen only an hour into the film.
There is also a slush of subplots that don't know where they want to weave themselves into the story as they aimlessly fly throughout the film.
Here's the beef to my arguments (SPOILERS):
First, as I've mentioned before, the story is horribly structured. It starts with about 40 minutes of repetitive introduction, followed by a 20 minute long second act in which they break out, and an hour long resolution in which Jack and his mother deal with the real world.
Some may say that it does follow the three act structure and that I'm just missing the real story, which is Jack growing into a world outside of Room. Well here's the problem; if The introduction had included the escape, and then the second act focused on Jack struggling to fit into the regular world until he overcomes his fears, then I'd say it's appropriate to say the story is focused on a boy being exposed to a world he's never seen before.
This isn't the case however, as Jack isn't exposed to the real world until the second half of the movie, and this story line is barely glossed over in my opinion.
In this movie it seems you have three plots: -Ma's growth and struggle as a kidnapped mother -Jack's coming of age into the world outside of room -The escape from Room.
The film tries to put all of these plots into one piece, not focusing on one in particular, which failed to engage me in the story at all. There are also plenty of loose ends and unexplored characters that I could go into, but I'd rather not.
Overall, this film reminds me of Prisoners and Sicario. It's a story that has potential, but seems like a first draft of a script. There are too many subplots and not a core story that it focuses on, nor is there a proper three act structure to draw the audience in. The performances and production value is great, but other than that, I thought it was a waste of my time.