Satisfactory

Rating: 7/10 (5 August 2005)

Maybe I've seen too many movies like this. I'd worked out what the catch would be very early on and watching the rest of the movie was simply a case of proving I was right and adding some details.
That said, the movie works rather well. Though nothing very much actually happens (until the last 20 minutes or so), the film sustains a pleasurably uncomfortable level of tension for most of its length. In this, it is helped by a splendid performance from Bryce Dallas Howard. The supporting cast, containing such worthies as Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt, is also excellent. Only Joaquin Phoenix seems strangely disengaged; however, his character barely appears in the last portion of the film, so this doesn't spoil things too much.
The photography was OK and I enjoyed listening to the dialog, framed as it was in the English of the late 19th century. The music, however, was sometimes intrusive; there are times in all movies when music just isn't necessary, a fact the film makers here seemed not to realize.
One to watch nonetheless. Something of a leap of faith is required, but it's worth the trouble.
Rating: 7/10.