Fear X
A security guard becomes obsessed with avenging his wife’s murder.
Comments:
First off, one may get the impression from the title that this is a horror film. Yes, I did get tricked. No, I won’t hold that against the film. I will review it on its own merits as a mystery.
The first act of the film is gorgeous. Beautifully shot, directed, and acted, the film drips with the sadness and the emptiness of a man who has lost his world. At first, the movie sets forth its backstory almost wordlessly. An empty house. A despondent man. A collage of evidence. As the mystery of his wife’s murder continues to unfold, Harry becomes convinced that there is some type of conspiracy behind the seemingly random crime. The situation is interesting, and you get sucked into the film very quickly. Harry is a well developed character, and you become greatly invested in seeing him solve the mystery and gain closure.
The problem is, you solve it before he does. Rather than building bit by bit to a shocking climax, the reason behind slaying is laid out for the viewer in a lame office scene. It’s pat, unsatisfactory, and not interesting at all. Following this, the film really loses any point, and peters out to a disappointing end. Nothing else to say.
3.0