Gemma Arterton is a fast-rising star
in the mainstream of the cinema galaxy. She was in The Quantum of Solace, Clash of
the Titans and The Prince of Persia. It is therefore a bit surprising to see
her toiling away in a zero-budget British indie in which she gets kidnapped
and stripped naked on camera. She made the decision herself. She takes pride
in her edgy indie roots, and she told The Times. "I’m not slating Hollywood
movies, but I wouldn’t normally go to see them. Alice is the sort of movie
that I would go and see." Plenty of critics agreed with her assessment of the
film. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of the reviews have been positive.
Frankly, I don't know what Gemma and those critics were
thinking.
I found it to be very competently acted and directed, but all of that stalwart
effort takes place in service of a script which is too talky and completely
predictable. The entire film is essentially a three-character stage play which
takes place on a single set with two rooms, minus all of the clever dialogue and
character development you
would expect from a night in the theater, because virtually all the dialogue
here has
to serve as exposition for a complicated plot.
It's one of those thrillers that relies on multiple plot twists, each of which
reveals new information previously hidden from certain characters and the
audience. It turns out that the kidnappers and Gemma are bound together by
various connections and promises, and will eventually be divided by a string of
betrayals. It's just the usual genre stuff, and you should have no problem
guessing how it will unfold if you have seen similar films before. That's why
I'm so puzzled about the plaudits from the critics. My general understanding of
the qualifications required for a film critic includes an assumption that he or
she must have seen a lot of movies, and it seems to me that anyone who has
watched a lot of films would anticipate almost every single plot twist in this one,
except one, and that one has proved to be guffaw-inducing with festival audiences.
Oh, well, maybe it's just me being jaded. Obviously, many
people did like this film, so I won't advise you to stay away. The film is
technically excellent, the pace is very fast in the first ten minutes, and you will see Gemma Arterton's impressive breasts
exposed on several occasions in good lighting conditions, so the film will provide some
guilty pleasures and will certainly not be a complete waste of your time.
If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to
read the
explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by
our definition, a
C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs
and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:
