Well, there is one reason, for me. Reasons for others may vary.
But the story is certainly not a reason. These characters never needed to meet, and there's just no reason for them to be doing anything that they're doing. I think that as a viewer, that makes it jarring and awkward to watch, because I keep asking, "Yes, but why though..." That lack of worthwhile motivations makes it feel like someone is annoying me and wasting my time. Someone like Jim Sturgess, who plays a kind of human rat, someone I'd never want to spend more than a minute or two talking with.
Mr. Sturgess is making a lot of unfortunate choices. He plays a meth addict who is also a darts champion, and is always dressed in either shades of mud or in Gucci pajamas. His teeth are yellowish green and he is always making a face like a kid makes when they are making fun of someone else who is crying. This kind of raffish delinquent would have to be played as funny to be memorable. They do try for some broad humor with the scenes of Nicola Six vamping and sashaying around him while he struggles to keep up and exude some bravado, but he's just so repulsive it's hard to watch him. I'd've said, just don't do the yellow teeth and stop doing that face. Also, he's always getting way to close to people's faces when he talks to them. It's just gross to watch.
This Nicola character that I mentioned is the central character, the most beautiful woman in the world played by the most beautiful blonde in the world, Amber Heard. She's a psychic who is trying to engineer her own death because she saw it in a dream. She sets about manipulating three men: Keith the meth addict dart player as I've described, and also a wealthy young banker named Guy (Theo James) and a novelist named Samson (Billy Bob Thornton).
There's not much to say either of these other two. Guy is a nice looking mannequin in a suit, and Samson is just an observer who narrates. Nicola lets him in on everything that's going on because he wants to write the full story. There seems to be no reason for him either. He's written some books and now suffers from writer's block, and he is temporarily staying in a huge and empty apartment that belongs to another writer named Mark (Jason Isaacs). His situation is a little unrelatable, which is worsened by all the scenes of him listening to messages from Mark, and looking at pictures of Mark as if it's funny how Mark is looking back at him. But we don't know Mark and we barely know Samson. So, none of that lands.
Nicola engages in a game where she tricks Guy into giving her a lot of money that she gives to Keith so he can pay off loan sharks. It's not really for Keith. It's because she knows he has a small daughter. I'm not sure the film makers knew that, though. The scene where that is revealed is not coherent enough to make that clear.
That's a major problem. The script is full of airy, disconnected dialogue and voiceovers that don't contribute to the story.
On the other end of the spectrum from Sturgess's repulsiveness as Keith is Johnny Depp as Check, the best performance in the movie. He plays a scarred, mod-dressed mobster who is ALSO a darts champion and is the loan shark to whom Keith owes money. The make-up job for his scarred face is excellent, and he effortlessly inhabits this charming and scary character.
Nicola's manipulations don't make a lot of sense in the context of her prediction about her murder. At the end, if you paid attention and figured out her motivations, it makes more sense. Oddly, although she claims not to know who her murderer will be, it turns out that she did know all along.
This movie is very well photographed in some beautiful interiors. Amber Heard in beautiful interiors is quite a dazzling sight. Without her, I'd give this movie a 5, and without Johnny Depp, it would be knocked down to a 3. Together, they make it an 8.
But the story is certainly not a reason. These characters never needed to meet, and there's just no reason for them to be doing anything that they're doing. I think that as a viewer, that makes it jarring and awkward to watch, because I keep asking, "Yes, but why though..." That lack of worthwhile motivations makes it feel like someone is annoying me and wasting my time. Someone like Jim Sturgess, who plays a kind of human rat, someone I'd never want to spend more than a minute or two talking with.
Mr. Sturgess is making a lot of unfortunate choices. He plays a meth addict who is also a darts champion, and is always dressed in either shades of mud or in Gucci pajamas. His teeth are yellowish green and he is always making a face like a kid makes when they are making fun of someone else who is crying. This kind of raffish delinquent would have to be played as funny to be memorable. They do try for some broad humor with the scenes of Nicola Six vamping and sashaying around him while he struggles to keep up and exude some bravado, but he's just so repulsive it's hard to watch him. I'd've said, just don't do the yellow teeth and stop doing that face. Also, he's always getting way to close to people's faces when he talks to them. It's just gross to watch.
This Nicola character that I mentioned is the central character, the most beautiful woman in the world played by the most beautiful blonde in the world, Amber Heard. She's a psychic who is trying to engineer her own death because she saw it in a dream. She sets about manipulating three men: Keith the meth addict dart player as I've described, and also a wealthy young banker named Guy (Theo James) and a novelist named Samson (Billy Bob Thornton).
There's not much to say either of these other two. Guy is a nice looking mannequin in a suit, and Samson is just an observer who narrates. Nicola lets him in on everything that's going on because he wants to write the full story. There seems to be no reason for him either. He's written some books and now suffers from writer's block, and he is temporarily staying in a huge and empty apartment that belongs to another writer named Mark (Jason Isaacs). His situation is a little unrelatable, which is worsened by all the scenes of him listening to messages from Mark, and looking at pictures of Mark as if it's funny how Mark is looking back at him. But we don't know Mark and we barely know Samson. So, none of that lands.
Nicola engages in a game where she tricks Guy into giving her a lot of money that she gives to Keith so he can pay off loan sharks. It's not really for Keith. It's because she knows he has a small daughter. I'm not sure the film makers knew that, though. The scene where that is revealed is not coherent enough to make that clear.
That's a major problem. The script is full of airy, disconnected dialogue and voiceovers that don't contribute to the story.
On the other end of the spectrum from Sturgess's repulsiveness as Keith is Johnny Depp as Check, the best performance in the movie. He plays a scarred, mod-dressed mobster who is ALSO a darts champion and is the loan shark to whom Keith owes money. The make-up job for his scarred face is excellent, and he effortlessly inhabits this charming and scary character.
Nicola's manipulations don't make a lot of sense in the context of her prediction about her murder. At the end, if you paid attention and figured out her motivations, it makes more sense. Oddly, although she claims not to know who her murderer will be, it turns out that she did know all along.
This movie is very well photographed in some beautiful interiors. Amber Heard in beautiful interiors is quite a dazzling sight. Without her, I'd give this movie a 5, and without Johnny Depp, it would be knocked down to a 3. Together, they make it an 8.
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