Stoker

Easily one of the biggest disappointments this year along with Great Gatsby and Oz, it's depressing how much better Stoker really should have been. The previews made it look so intriguing and sinister but in the end I felt like I had watched the slowest running episode of Scooby Doo in existence, that wears its' welcome out long before the grand finale.

Stoker's lack of excellence can't be blamed on the cast though; they're all top notch here. Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, and Mia Wasikowska are all giving it their A-game. The trio all know where the creepy is at. If the material they were given had matched the strength all of them are giving with these messed up, fucked up characters, Stoker would have been a knock-out.

One of the biggest problems with Stoker is that it's just lazy. Right off the bat after India Stoker's (Wasikowska) father dies and her uncle (Goode) mysteriously shows up, you know he's up to no good. You know that India's mother Evelyn (Kidman) has the hots for him. You know that by the way India stares at her uncle...that she will eventually have the hots for him. Stoker takes an idea about the deception in one's one family and just sits on it. All of these twists are obvious and you keep waiting for something else to arrive that never does.

Stoker is definitely eye candy, meticulous is easily the word I can think of when describing the visuals. But sadly, I feel that the visuals were emphasized to overcompensate for how empty the movie is (ironically this is the way I felt with Great Gatsby and Oz also). I mentioned before you keep waiting for an actual surprising twist to occur but the truth is, Stoker will leave you waiting for ANYTHING to happen. There's so many chances for a great thrill or exciting climax and you're left holding you're breath for no reason. Stoker is terribly dull.

Throughout the movie, Richard Stoker is mourned by all, but I feel the most deserved mourning should go out to everyone that makes it to the end of Stoker, a beautiful looking yet awfully ditzy disappointment.

1/4