I understand that it's a trailer's job to sell a movie, but when the trailer grossly misrepresents the movie it is hard to get over one's initial feelings of irritation. The trailer for Rubberneck is intriguing and looks a lot creepier than your usual stalker flick: the emotions seem to run deeper, the entanglements more intimate --- it appears there's a lot here.
There is, just not what you'd expect since...it's not really a stalker flick. Rubberneck's story is supposedly based on a true crime case, and that's very plausible to believe once you've seen it. All the action develops very slowly, with a lot of nuance given to character development and back-story. When the violence does occur, it's shockingly sudden and will definitely knock you off balance if you aren't ready for it.
The problem lies after that climax, which comes about midway through the film. From that point on, there's a feeling that there should be more somehow...but again, if we can believe the "true events" caption, it probably was a pretty predictable denouement.
Even though Karpovsky is coming into his own as a director (his "Red Flag" was similarly competent yet quiet), his strength is still his acting ability and he channels a lot of interesting shadings into his character of Paul. He seems ordinary enough when we first see him, but slowly his patina of banality falls away to reveal a very wounded, sick person beneath, but never one you overtly villianize. And Jaimie Ray Newman gives much resonance to the character of Danielle, his one-night-stand love crush. Her character isn't particularly likable or sympathetic, but she is written and rendered realistically.
If you can get past your expectations, Rubberneck is a very intense character piece that will stay with you for sometime. It is subtle, and not really a thriller by any definition, regardless of how it's categorized.
There is, just not what you'd expect since...it's not really a stalker flick. Rubberneck's story is supposedly based on a true crime case, and that's very plausible to believe once you've seen it. All the action develops very slowly, with a lot of nuance given to character development and back-story. When the violence does occur, it's shockingly sudden and will definitely knock you off balance if you aren't ready for it.
The problem lies after that climax, which comes about midway through the film. From that point on, there's a feeling that there should be more somehow...but again, if we can believe the "true events" caption, it probably was a pretty predictable denouement.
Even though Karpovsky is coming into his own as a director (his "Red Flag" was similarly competent yet quiet), his strength is still his acting ability and he channels a lot of interesting shadings into his character of Paul. He seems ordinary enough when we first see him, but slowly his patina of banality falls away to reveal a very wounded, sick person beneath, but never one you overtly villianize. And Jaimie Ray Newman gives much resonance to the character of Danielle, his one-night-stand love crush. Her character isn't particularly likable or sympathetic, but she is written and rendered realistically.
If you can get past your expectations, Rubberneck is a very intense character piece that will stay with you for sometime. It is subtle, and not really a thriller by any definition, regardless of how it's categorized.