Cast: Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, Mia Wasikowska, Dermot Mulroney, Lucas Till, Jacki Weaver, Harmony Korine
Rating: Rated R for disturbing violent and sexaul content
After India's father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.
If I could define "Stoker" in only a couple of words I would use "Disturbing", "Quiet", and "Creepy." From the very early trailers of this movie that came out last year this movie was always on the top of my to watch list in 2013. The film is helmed by Chan-Wook Park who is most known for his cult classic film "Oldboy" that is still widely renoun today. Also with a top notch cast that included Emmy Nominee Jacki Weaver, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, and Mia Wasikowska, I always had high expectations for "Stoker." With the good cast and intersting storyline the film portrayed the thing that had me most interested in "Stoker" was the style in which the film was shot. Being helmed by Chan-Wook Park he incorporated these very Asian style of filmmaking into an American thriller and I feel from the look of the trailers that it made the film more intense than if it would have been filmed like a normal thriller. After seeing "Stoker" I can say that while the movie was very good and entertaining, the film was plauged by issues such as pacing and tone that kept the film from being fully entertaining. The film features a premise that I have heard from countless other sources of being hitchockian inspired but I am unaware of the direct influence any of his works have on the film. From the way the film unravels from start to finish though definitely takes some inspiration from the legend himself and by going after his style a little bit is one of the bigger issues of the film. When the trailer first appeared for "Stoker" the film looked very fast pace it looked like it barely took a breath and thats what got me so excited for the movie. Trailers to movies usually reveal the style and tone the film is gonna take upon watching it. This isn't a huge complaint on the film but they were certain parts especially in the first half hour of the film that were feeled with a lot of exposition and became boring at some parts because you are just wanting something to happen to pull you into the movie. Also from the trailer my biggest fear was that it looked like it revealed the whole premise in the trailer twist for twist and thankfully the film gives enough twists that weren't spoiled in the trailer. The things I really enjoyed in the plot were the dark undertones it took. This film goes into some very dark places I truly wasn't expecting and they are truly terrifying. The pacting of the film which is my main concern in the first half of the movie drastically improves in the second half when you are getting into the escence of what this movie is about. I just wished that build-up would of been as entertaining as the fallout. Being set apart on isolated mansion, the film only features a few real key actors. The biggest name in the cast is Nicole Kidman who plays the wife of the recently deceased Richard Stoker. As big a name Nicole Kidman definitely in this cast is quite weird seeing how she had the least amount to do in the entire film. If she is not talking to the other two characters in the movie she is basically non existant. As big a fan of Nicole Kidman that I am, I wish she would have gotten more to do in the film, but with what she did she was fine. I had no complaints on her part she was still an interesting character in the movie. The main actress in this film is Mia Wasikowska (Most notably Alice from Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"). She was by far the best part of the movie. Her character in the movie required a lot of emotional depth portrayed with very little emotion and there are times in this film that with just a look on her face she could terrify you. Her interactions with Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode were really good as she played well off all of the actors in the film. Her descent is truly the most entertaining things I've seen done on film this year. The one who was the most hard to describe was Matthew Goode (Watchmen) as good ole Uncle Charlie. The character of Uncle Charlie was a really fascinating character study playing from moments of pure insanity to being as calm as an ocean and required a lot of acting skills that sadly I couldn't see in Uncle Charlie. When he has to play insane he soars as he is a truly ruthless villain and does some of the most disturbing things on film in a quite a while. Its when he switches into his calm and collective consceince that I didn't really get the acting he was doing. He seemed just there with no real character traits and emotions and I don't know if it was in the writing or not but in the first half of the movie the main villain being boring is not always a good sign. Overall the acting in the film was good with good performances especially from Mia Wasikowska that truly elevate this film. This film marks Park Chan-Wook's first forray into American filmmaking and his directing style is one of the most refreshing thins I have seen in years. Asian style flmmaking is something I never really considered working over here with American audiences, but it really does add a more bleak and isolated vibe that perfectly describes the characters in this movie. Visually rhe movie is stunning and you can tell he really enjoys working with sound effects sometimes completely dropping the score in letting just the smallest sound is a light switch flickering or a clock ticking describe the moment. This drops the cinematic vibe of the film and tries to place it in a more realistic place which I find very risky and brave and he definitely pulls it off here as it definitely makes this film more entertaining. The only complaint I have in the film and its what I go back to the most time is the beginning of the film. The film features nothing but the characters moving from location to location with only dialouge feeled scenes. There is nothing interesting going on with the directing as it is just bleake as I don't know if it was just with the tone of the film that he wanted to keep throughout or not but I wish he could of done more with the opening. The plot as a whole had some plot holes if you really dig deep into it. A woman who comes and visits the house knows that this Uncle Charle character is a bad person but she want talk to anybody about it at their house and makes plans the next day to talk to Nicole Kidman about it. She leaves the house before doing so opening herself to easily be dispatched. I understand the revelation that early in the film would have ruined the film but the unknown reason why she didn't come clean about the Uncle baffles me as boderline idiotic. Its easy to understand why it was done but they should have just left that out so it wouldn't have messed up the film. Overall, with the mixed reviews this film is getting I can understand why some critics didn't like it. Some critics found it boring and some describe the film is unrelatable with its characters and execution, but I find myself on the other side of the pendelum as I found "Stoker" to be a very enjoyable thriller with a great premise fulled with twist and turns the entire way that kept me entertain thoughout. Also with Mia Waskikowska giving the best performance of her career as the rootable India Stoker in a very bleak 2013 film wise "Stoker" is one film I can recommend to go see at any cinema you can find it at. The slow pace can detour some people from seeing this movie but if you stick it through to the end I truly believe the payoff is well worth the price of admission.
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