Great, but brainless at times

Rating: 7/10 (21 November 2013)

The first half of the movie is great. The atmosphere is very well designed, the acting is great, and it does a perfect job of drawing you in.
The second half isn't quite as flawless. Much like in the first movie, where the extra actors had been picked up from Starbucks and were attempting to read a script their first time, here too many extra characters were poorly done. The majority of "past contestants" were completely hollow caricatures of personalities. Basically throwaways to move the plot along.
The other problem was that the final plot made no sense. When the ending is revealed it is completely absurd; there were a million reasons it should not have worked. Maybe they explain it better in the book, but if you have not read it, the movie explanation sounds pathetic. I can't say more without spoilers, you'll see.
Even with these two flaws - occasional poor acting and an unbelievable plot - the movie was much better than I expected. Worth a watch if you're looking for something and generally very well done.