Preservation opens with a series of shots trailing an old 4x4 making its way from suburbia into the wilderness. Eventually we move inside the cab of the truck to eavesdrop on the conversation of the driver and his companion in the passenger seat, who comes off as a sociopath giggling at an online video of a cat being flushed down the toilet, and recalling how he knocked over an oil can as a kid and splashed the contents all over his father, but thankfully the driver - his big brother - protected him and always had his best interests at heart.
So let's stop right there and see if you're with me up to this point, four or five minutes into the movie. Knowing only a few details about the plot coming into this, we can safely assume these are going to be the killers who stalk the nice people, right? Especially when they take guns out of the car and reminisce about shooting small animals when they were younger, correct? In fact, no! These are your central characters/protagonists, ladies and gentlemen, which takes what would have been a fairly pedestrian thriller down a few notches to fail territory, in my view. Preservation features such largely despicable characters that you in no way root for anyone in the whole affair, be it these two aforementioned brothers, the wife of one of them whose attraction to such a loser you can simply not fathom, nor the eventual real antagonists who make their presence felt with an incomprehensible combination of stealthy brilliance and clumsy stupidity.
There is a critic review floating around here somewhere that compares Preservation to Adam Wingard's You're Next, suggesting each one may have its merits but that Preservation is ultimately the superior, more intense film. Let's put that notion to rest right now: You're Next might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is miles more accomplished than Preservation, a derivative, illogical, and ultimately lazy effort whose script is about as subtle as a swinging butt of a rifle to your head.
So let's stop right there and see if you're with me up to this point, four or five minutes into the movie. Knowing only a few details about the plot coming into this, we can safely assume these are going to be the killers who stalk the nice people, right? Especially when they take guns out of the car and reminisce about shooting small animals when they were younger, correct? In fact, no! These are your central characters/protagonists, ladies and gentlemen, which takes what would have been a fairly pedestrian thriller down a few notches to fail territory, in my view. Preservation features such largely despicable characters that you in no way root for anyone in the whole affair, be it these two aforementioned brothers, the wife of one of them whose attraction to such a loser you can simply not fathom, nor the eventual real antagonists who make their presence felt with an incomprehensible combination of stealthy brilliance and clumsy stupidity.
There is a critic review floating around here somewhere that compares Preservation to Adam Wingard's You're Next, suggesting each one may have its merits but that Preservation is ultimately the superior, more intense film. Let's put that notion to rest right now: You're Next might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is miles more accomplished than Preservation, a derivative, illogical, and ultimately lazy effort whose script is about as subtle as a swinging butt of a rifle to your head.