The Square reminded me of Silent Partner, an old movie starring Elliott Gould, although it has the pace of Notes on a Scandal, and the ending isn't as satisfying. If you haven't seen Silent Partner, look it up; you'll love the fish tank scene. The Square is not as brooding as Sam Rami's A Simple Plan, and doesn't have the ability to laugh at itself like the Cohen Brothers' Fargo does, but it shares the same theme, a bag of money causing everything to go to hell. They could have played that whole thing about not being able to pour the concrete over the corpse for some laughs, but instead it was taken dead seriously. The Square starts off strong and kind of gets a little muddled in the middle but then it picks up again toward the end. The plot twists aren't really twist, they are just things that go wrong with the plan. Mostly this movie concentrates on one character instead of focusing on the interaction of the two conspirators. Some creepy background music might have added to the suspense as well. During the first half there are a few very impressive and subtle scares, which bring to mind another Cohen Brothers movie, Blood Simple. The acting is really good; the story just needs to lighten up a bit in order to let the great acting flourish. All in all this is a good movie. It kept me shaking my head wondering, what now. It will keep you guessing. The wisdom of this movie is "One man points his dick in the wrong direction, and here we are." Yes, here we are.
Review of The Square
