Post by PhantomKnight on Jun 10, 2020 9:45:21 GMT -5
Inheritance is just the latest example of a movie squandering whatever potential it had to begin with. It's also a movie that feels like the people behind it didn't think too much past the trailer.
Indeed, I was suckered in by the trailer and the premise. And to its credit, the first half of this movie pretty much had me in the palm of its hand, the first three minutes or so aside. Inheritance is the kind of movie that's able to coast off the intrigue of its premise for a while, and that's exactly how this movie starts out. A patriarch of a wealthy family dies suddenly, leaving to his eldest daughter the key to a secret bunker in the backyard of their mansion. Inside said bunker is a lone man being held prisoner, who says he's been there for decades and that the daughter's father had been his keeper all the while. From there, questions start to arise as to who this man is and why exactly he was being kept in a secret bunker.
Inheritance opens with a first three minutes that are so horribly edited, it's damn-near offputting. However, the film settles into its groove soon after that and the movie does a decent job of hooking us into the story. The mystery surrounding the mysterious man who calls himself Morgan, played by Simon Pegg, is interesting enough to carry everything at first. There's also a good-enough sense of atmosphere that settles in. Plus, Simon Pegg is really convincing and captivating as Morgan. But it's as the movie gets further along and gradually starts revealing its hand that we get hip to its jibe and thus start to predict certain twists that the film seems to think are more clever than they are. By the time the film gets to its climax and everything is fully revealed, the reaction is just a simple shrug and a "That's it?" The answer to the mystery seems like one we've seen before, and also one that comes with a rather obvious twist. The setup for this movie is so intriguing, that I was honestly kind of hoping for a more insane, original twist than the one we're given.
It also doesn't help that the writer didn't seem to think past the premise. So much of this movie is driven by the mystery and trying to put all the pieces together, that it neglects to really develop any of the characters outside of Simon Pegg's. Lily Collins plays Lauren, the central character, and to her credit she does the best she can. But there's very little reason to care about her and what this revelation does to her. Simon Pegg, however, really shines. This is a side of him we haven't seen before, and he really seems to revel in the part. As a result, he's consistently the most entertaining thing about this movie, and quite honestly, it's a performance worthy of a better movie.
In fact, a lot of elements here are worthy of a better movie.
Indeed, I was suckered in by the trailer and the premise. And to its credit, the first half of this movie pretty much had me in the palm of its hand, the first three minutes or so aside. Inheritance is the kind of movie that's able to coast off the intrigue of its premise for a while, and that's exactly how this movie starts out. A patriarch of a wealthy family dies suddenly, leaving to his eldest daughter the key to a secret bunker in the backyard of their mansion. Inside said bunker is a lone man being held prisoner, who says he's been there for decades and that the daughter's father had been his keeper all the while. From there, questions start to arise as to who this man is and why exactly he was being kept in a secret bunker.
Inheritance opens with a first three minutes that are so horribly edited, it's damn-near offputting. However, the film settles into its groove soon after that and the movie does a decent job of hooking us into the story. The mystery surrounding the mysterious man who calls himself Morgan, played by Simon Pegg, is interesting enough to carry everything at first. There's also a good-enough sense of atmosphere that settles in. Plus, Simon Pegg is really convincing and captivating as Morgan. But it's as the movie gets further along and gradually starts revealing its hand that we get hip to its jibe and thus start to predict certain twists that the film seems to think are more clever than they are. By the time the film gets to its climax and everything is fully revealed, the reaction is just a simple shrug and a "That's it?" The answer to the mystery seems like one we've seen before, and also one that comes with a rather obvious twist. The setup for this movie is so intriguing, that I was honestly kind of hoping for a more insane, original twist than the one we're given.
It also doesn't help that the writer didn't seem to think past the premise. So much of this movie is driven by the mystery and trying to put all the pieces together, that it neglects to really develop any of the characters outside of Simon Pegg's. Lily Collins plays Lauren, the central character, and to her credit she does the best she can. But there's very little reason to care about her and what this revelation does to her. Simon Pegg, however, really shines. This is a side of him we haven't seen before, and he really seems to revel in the part. As a result, he's consistently the most entertaining thing about this movie, and quite honestly, it's a performance worthy of a better movie.
In fact, a lot of elements here are worthy of a better movie.
*1/2 /****
