“An
investigative thriller best kept hidden in the dark.”
Charlize Theron stars as a self-loathing and morose massacre
survivor in director Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s Dark Places. Adapted from Gillian Flynn’s best-selling 2009 novel
of the same name, the movie tells of a woman’s revisiting of a childhood
traumatic experience and the hidden painful truths she unearths.
The 1980s was a period of
enormous fear in Kansas, California as satanic cults which abuse and even
murders children were prevalent. But everyone was unprepared for the tragic Day
massacre that rocked the State in 1985. The matriarch Patty Day (Christina Hendricks) and two of her daughters were found bloodied and dead in various
parts of their house. Only two members of the family survived the tragedy – the
16-year-old son Ben (Tye Sheridan) and the youngest daughter Libby (Sterling Jerins) who was 8 years old that time. Aloft, gloomy and unscathed from the
incident, Ben became hot in the eyes of the law and media. While still
recuperating from her broken foot, Libby confirms the cops’ allegation that her
brother was the killer. Despite lack of strong evidence, Ben was sent to prison
and never tried to appeal his conviction.
Three decades roll by and grown Libby (Theron), who always
sports a bullcap and a shirt that has seen better days, is warned of being
kicked out of her rented apartment. Her milk money from the tragedy, money from
royalties from the book called “A New Day” which she supposedly wrote and
donations from concerned strangers, have ran out. Desperate for some dough, she
accepts an invitation from Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult) to attend the “Kill
Club.”
Composed of hardcore true-crime investigators and
enthusiasts, Kill Club believes that Libby lied on the court and that Ben was
innocent. The meeting put Libby on the crossroads as she is informed that Ben’s
files will be shredded in three weeks, unless the case is reopened. Despite her
initial refusal, Libby agrees to investigate the crime in exchange for a
handsome pay. As she digs deeper into the truth, Libby will have to confront
faces she never thought she would see again, including her abusive father and
her grown brother Ben (Corey Stoll).
After 2014’s critically-acclaimed Gone Girl, Dark Places is
the second but much-less adaptation of a Gillian Flynn novel. The film would have
been decent if not for its overly-twisted narrative. It could have been the
author’s fault or the screenwriter’s failure to capture the charisma in the
book. With absurd mysteries and excessive subplots, the film swerves plenty of
times as it deals with several subject matters. It has too much to take in, including
child abuse, drugs, debts, bankruptcy, foreclosure, daddy issues, domestic
violence, sibling rivalry, puppy love, teen pregnancy, Satan worship, cow
murder, porn stripping, and a serial killer on the loose. Considering all these
things, the film feels like a long weary guessing game. Much worse, some points
in the story are circumstantial, making it incoherent and less believable.
Aside from its brain-draining plot, the movie is also very dreary
and downbeat. Going back and forth in time, with the past portrayed in grainy
black and white flashbacks, does not help in building the momentum. Hence, there
is a general lack of tension throughout, resulting to a barely breathing
climax.
With a lot of people involved, there is a shallow
characterization of figures, even with the main protagonist. Some have vague
motivations or unconvincing behaviors. Theron, who seems committed to her role,
does not shine as Libby who appears sulky and drab all the time. Chloe Grace Moretz as Diondra, Ben’s young flame, is another wasted talent in the movie.
Not all best-selling books are interpreted successfully to
the big screen. Dark Places is part
of that statistics as it fails miserably to give light to its murky and messy
plot. Its lazy and dowdy atmosphere further deadens its. The reputed and
sincere cast of the movie is not even enough to save it.
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