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Reviews
Exit Strategy (2019)
A Near-Perfect Little Short
We've seen many, many different takes on the time-loop story, but this short spares us the endless repetitions and changes the ending you may have come to expect. Simply wonderful performances, transparent editing, and clever all around. Hope to see something in the theatre from this writer/director one day.
Ratter (2015)
Don't Waste Your Time
I rarely bother to write reviews these days. And this movie has had its fair share of negative reviews, but it is one of those situations where I felt so incredibly ripped off by a movie that I hope I can save others the trouble of watching. And I feel honor-bound to bring the rating down.
I was about to give this film two stars rather than one only because the premise had the potential to be good, and the cinematography (such as it is) was mostly convincing. Seeing the main character move through her life from the cameras of the various devices in her life was done in a straightforward way. (Though on occasion stretched credulity.)
But on second thought, when the film has potential and that the writer/director doesn't even see it? I don't think that deserves credit. So one star it is.
Disappointingly, this falls under the category of "found footage." Now don't get my wrong. I have a soft spot for some of the early entries that defined the genre. But it has to be said that "found footage" has one major limitation — inevitably, there can be no survivors. Otherwise, why are we watching the footage? When I started watching this film, I thought, "Well, this is interesting. We have a first-person, found-footage camera style, but in THIS FILM anything can happen, because we're dealing with surveillance rather than found footage. This is a really interesting idea that could go anywhere!" Yeah. Not so much. All that potential quickly goes down the toilet, with an ending that is lazy, derivative, and pointless. And pretty much a repeat of every other found-footage film.
What makes this film truly terrible is that there is no story. Nothing. Nada The writer needs to go back to school and learn something about plot. Even the most minimal plot would have made this a film worth watching. Basically, we are handed a setup that never develops into a story, and then ends violently without answers. "Man goes out to buy groceries and gets beat up by an angry drunk," is not a story, it's just a series of events. And that's exactly what this film is.
Where is the story? The stalker is no one. Yes, I get that fans of this are saying, "But that's the point! He could be just anyone!" Sure. That's chilling. That's scary. But it's not a story. This is a film, and viewers deserve a story. A motive. Development. Here we get nothing. No idea who he is. No hints. No motive for what he's doing. No personality except that he might be into feet. He may as well be shooting into a crowd. I've seen earthquakes with more personality.
The same extends to the protagonist. She is experiencing this for no reason. She doesn't change, except to become more and more (understandably) paranoid. There is no character development whatsoever. She could be anyone. Sure, yes, "She could be me!" But so what? And when the ending comes, there is no tension. No sense that she might escape or things might turn out okay. Just utter helplessness and horror.
We don't know if the protagonist is dead or kidnapped. Even the pathetic post-credit inclusion of the police coming in the door fails to address whether or not she's alive. Are we supposed to imagine that there is a sequel in the works? No. The more likely fact is that the writer doesn't understand how a story works, and simply failed to write one.
Essentially, the entire film breaks down to an elaborately filmed home invasion, and nothing else. "Random woman might be raped and murdered by random man for no apparent reason." There. I've saved you the trouble of watching.