Mojave (2015) follows a man who goes into the desert only to find his doppelgänger, a homicidal drifter. This film had a lot of potential, with an intriguing premise and a decent story, but ultimately it just wasn't executed well enough. It was a very hard film to pay attention to and Oscar Isaac carried it! I'm still unsure as to why it was mainly advertised as a doppelgänger movie.
Firstly, Oscar Isaac really carried this film. He was very mysterious and I'd have loved to know more about the character of Jack. The two leads had chemistry too which was good, and the dialogue was sometimes intriguing! I found myself rooting for Jack, which I don't think was the aim, however I liked that there was no clear 'good character' per say.
Unfortunately, there wasn't really any interesting cinematography to talk about, but at least it was well lit and clear. I did like some of the framing choices also.
The lack of score wasn't effective for this film, as it was too bland and basic. The sound design didn't have much to it as well, which is a shame because this resulted in the film having little to know tension or atmosphere built up.
The writing for the film was fairly poor and not engaging, like most elements in the movie, it just felt so dull. The writing bordered into being quite cheesy actually which was a shame, as I could tell the film tried to set a serious tone. There were parts that made me believe the filmmakers were going for something like No Country For Old Men (2006), but I found it to be less effective.
The movie was pretty confusing and odd, and set a weird tone. It didn't feel like it was going for a slowburn, and if it was, it wasn't successful or engaging enough. The pacing was messy, the tension wasn't high and it rushed into the plot too quickly which really made it lack substance.
Firstly, Oscar Isaac really carried this film. He was very mysterious and I'd have loved to know more about the character of Jack. The two leads had chemistry too which was good, and the dialogue was sometimes intriguing! I found myself rooting for Jack, which I don't think was the aim, however I liked that there was no clear 'good character' per say.
Unfortunately, there wasn't really any interesting cinematography to talk about, but at least it was well lit and clear. I did like some of the framing choices also.
The lack of score wasn't effective for this film, as it was too bland and basic. The sound design didn't have much to it as well, which is a shame because this resulted in the film having little to know tension or atmosphere built up.
The writing for the film was fairly poor and not engaging, like most elements in the movie, it just felt so dull. The writing bordered into being quite cheesy actually which was a shame, as I could tell the film tried to set a serious tone. There were parts that made me believe the filmmakers were going for something like No Country For Old Men (2006), but I found it to be less effective.
The movie was pretty confusing and odd, and set a weird tone. It didn't feel like it was going for a slowburn, and if it was, it wasn't successful or engaging enough. The pacing was messy, the tension wasn't high and it rushed into the plot too quickly which really made it lack substance.