Weapons

The initial mystery of this movie is such an engaging hook, and I was really excited to see where it was going to go in terms of story and wider meaning. However, by the end, I just couldn’t help but feel pretty disappointed (though maybe my expectations were set a little too high by the hype I’d seen surrounding the film).

Now before I dive head-first into the negatives, I want to give praise to the movie for all of it’s superb acting and wonderful effects. There were scenes which really made me wretch with disgust (in the best way). Again, the central mystery is a really great one, and the impact of the tragedy was really felt in the beginning of the film, keeping me thoroughly connected to the affected characters.

And now, weapons at the ready, the negatives: the pay-off to the mystery just felt incredibly lack-luster. By the end I was just left questioning ‘why did all of this really happen?’, for which the movie doesn’t really give an answer. It’s simply an antagonist doing evil stuff…that’s it. I might be missing something, but I’m unsure if the movie was really trying to say anything by the end.

At first, when the antagonist is properly introduced, there is a line mentioning ‘overconsumption’, which made me realize, in some way, most of the characters we follow are guilty of acting on impulse and over-indulging in one way or another: whether that be alcohol consumption, over-eating, drug use…etc.

Perhaps the movie was hinting at our potential to lose self-control (symbolized in the possessions)? But this theory didn’t come to fruition and I never noticed this theme come into play in the wider story/mystery in any other way. So again, I’m left wondering if this movie was trying to say anything, for which I cannot think of an answer.

While the antagonist is a lot of fun (and the actress does do a wonderful job), their menace is limited by their lack of clear motivation. Additionally, by the final act, it feels like a lot of the established rules of how the antagonist’s powers work becomes inconsistent (for example, when the kid does the ritual with the stick, why do just the kids attack the villain, why don’t the possessed parents also do the same?

Furthermore, when the villain gets killed, why is it only Josh Brolin’s character who regains consciousness, why don’t all the possessed characters become revived? Again, I could be missing something, if I am, I do apologize). Combined, this just left me feeling disappointed by the end of the film as the reveals/mechanisms behind the initial mystery weren’t given enough explanation to make them personally satisfying.