Daily Archives: April 5, 2021

Apr 5 2021

Into the Labyrinth (2019) Movie Review

Into the Labyrinth – Dark & Disturbing Mystery

Director: Donato Carrisi

Writer: Donato Carrisi (Screenplay) Donato Carrisi (Novel)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Toni Servillo, Valentina Belle, Vinicio Marchoini, Katsiaryne Shulha

Plot: Samantha, a young kidnapped girl, resurfaces in shock after being imprisoned and hospitalized.

Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Into the Labyrinth starts as Dottor Green (Hoffman) is interviewing escaped victims Samantha Andretti (Belle) about her time locked away, 15 years trapped in a labyrinth, which she learnt to navigate before her escape, she is recounting her story to Dottor. Bruno Genko (Servillo) is leading his own investigation into the string of missing children, which will lead him down a trail of bunnies.

Bruno will start to look into the one other person known to have escaped a labyrinth, Robin Basso, believing he could be the one behind a new string of murders, or it is just a bigger group behind the labyrinth.

Thoughts on Into the Labyrinth

Characters & Performances – Dottor Green is the doctor treating Samantha after her ordeal, he is trying to learn about what happened, helping her regain her memories from her time in there. He remains clam with his search for the truth. Dustin Hoffman does make an impact in his scenes, despite him only having limited location throughout the film. Bruno Genko is investigating the string of disappearances, he believes he knows who is behind the crimes and finds himself getting caught up in the bigger underworld of what is going on. Toni Servillo does most of the leg work when it comes to the acting, needing to get involved in the bigger action sequences and handling the serious side of the crimes. Samantha Andretti is the victim that has been held by the mysterious psychopath in a labyrinth, she was made to complete tasks to stay alive and now she is trying to piece together her memories of her time inside the labyrinth. Valentina Belle does well mixing her narration with her horror moments in the film. The rest of the supporting cast are entertaining to watch and get their scenes to make an impact with most involved Bruno and his investigation.

Story – The story here follows a doctor trying to treat a victim of a psychopaths twisted games, while a detective is looking for answers about who is behind them, with the two stories going on parallel to each other. This is a creepy story with how the two stories play out, on one hand we learn the disturbing actions of what has been happening over the years, with the different games, this could have gone even deeper, when we learn the length of time spent inside the labyrinth. The investigation is somehow even darker, with disturbing interactions with people that could lead to even more mysteries about what is going on. The two stories work well together giving us a very dark story to follow along with, but it does seem to go on a little longer than needed.

Themes – Into the Labyrinth is a disturbing crime mystery horror thriller that will introduce the twisted games being played, it will lead you with plenty of disturbing moments around what the victims must go through and with how the investigation isn’t a smooth as the detective would imagine. The use of the rabbit figure only adds to the disturbing nature going on in the film.

 

Into the Labyrinth in a darkly disturbing thriller that will measure just how much you can handle in this dark world.

Apr 5 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Action – E – End of the World (2018) Movie Review

End of the World – Easy to Watch Disaster Movie

Director: Maximilian Elfeldt

Writer: Michael Varrati (Screenplay)

Starring: Jhey Castles, Joseph Harris, Evan James Henderson, Jacqueline Scislowski, Sallieu Sesay, Remy O’Brien

Plot: As mass of solar storms causes tsunamis, volcanoes, and flooding, a city-dwelling family attempts to flee to the relative safety of a group of high-elevation caves several miles away.

Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: End of the World starts with the first moment of destruction in a national park before we meet the family we are going to be following, Meredith (Castles) who has been studying the weather phenonium coming to Earth from a Solar storm, trying to warn people, her ex-military husband Sullivan (Harris) whose connections could help, but his rank means nothing now, they have two kids tech savvy Kirby (Henderson) and Sarah (Scislowski) who once the storms start, must find safety.

Meredith is with Kirby, looking to warn people, while Sullivan is guiding Sarah to safety with each natural disaster coming up against them.

Thoughts on End of the World

Characters & Performances – Meredith is the expert in weather, knowing there is going to be a solar storm coming to Earth, wanting to warn people, only nobody was listening, now she must try and save her family before it is too late. She does try to help people along the way, working with her son to try and make it to safety. Sullivan is the ex-military husband and father that uses all his skills to try and keep Sarah safe on the way to safety. Kirby is the tech expert that uses his skill when needed, even if they are just for the odd scene here and there, while Sarah shows the vulnerable sister and daughter that must learn more from her father along the way to safety. The main four actors do well through the film, it is everything you would expect without needing to do too much more with their roles.

Story – The story starts with the beginning of the storm coming to LA, which will see the family trying to go about their everyday routines, before needing to find safety when the storms become too serious, we mostly only follow one family that must overcome the different events to survive. This is disaster movie 101 if you have ever seen them, each family member has a different skill, which will become pivotal in surviving, with their skill coming in crucial at some point during the surviving, we do step away from the science talk and keeping the story on the just running and surviving idea helps everything out.

Themes – End of the World is a cheap sci-fi disaster movie, it does have plenty of escaping situations, it might not have the best supporting acting, with special effects that aren’t the best, but help keep everything feeling the cheesy level you would expect.

 



End of the World is an easy watch disaster film that brings the destruction needed and simple storytelling of surviving.