Different Perspectives

Dark Places

For years there has been a question that has plagued movie-goers; Is the book better than the movie? The answer is always…yes. Sorry to all of you that may be disappointed by this answer, but let’s face it, the book is always better than the movie. Sometimes things are cut from the film that readers loved from the book or situations are arranged differently in the film than they are in the book. One thing is for sure though; Hollywood will never give up on producing movies based on our favorite books.

The problem for critics like me, sadly, is that we need to separate the book from the movie and that can be a difficult task in itself. For example, I thought that the book version of The Hunger Games was much better than the film for one simple fact, Rue. The character of the youngest contestant of those Hunger Games was a vital part to Katniss’ survival during the first book and a remembrance to our hero of her sister she left behind. However, in the film version Rue is a minor afterthought and is barely explored. I nitpicked at Gone Girl as well. An amazing David Fincher film and an incredible performance by Rosamund Pike, however there was more in the book about Nick’s father. Of course, with the huge success of Gone Girl, author Gillian Flynn’s other novels were looked at to be made into movies. Which brings me to this year’s psychological who-dunnit Dark Places.

Dark Places follows Libby Day (Charlize Theron Mad Max: Fury Road), who is a survivor of her family’s brutal murder on her childhood Kansas farm. 28 years later, Libby is struggling to have any real type of life. Haunted by her past, Libby is running out of money and is willing to do pretty much anything to stay afloat. As fate would have it, Libby is contacted by a ‘fan’ of her case, Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult Mad Max: Fury Road), and tell her that he would pay her to make an appearance at a unique convention that he is attending. It turns out that there are quite a number of people interested with her case and they all have convinced themselves that she wrongfully accused her older brother, Ben Day (Corey Stoll Ant-Man), of the murders. Furious that she had to come face to face with her inner demons, Libby decides that she is going to prove to Lyle and his club that her brother did commit the murders. What Libby reveals may be more than she can handle.

Normally, I would say here that I am going to separate the film from the book and review the film to try and give it an unbiased opinion. However, I can’t with this film. I loved this book more than I did Flynn’s others (yes, even Gone Girl) so I have to implore that you all read the book and not waste your time with this film. The film does not do the book any justice, expect for Theron and Hoult and that is pushing it. The story is set in two different times, the first is present day Libby and the second is 1985 Ben/Patty (Libby’s mother played by Christina Hendricks of Mad Men fame) in a flashback type form. The two stories are supposed to coincide with each other so you follow what happens in the past as Libby is finding out in the present.  The film does a horrible job of unveiling the secrets of the past. The film reveals this information almost as if the audience is supposed to know and ruins the mystery behind the plot. The pace of the film is also very fast. There is no time to actually absorb the information that is flung at the audience so that the emotional impact can sink in. There is no time taken with some important characters from the book. These characters are brushed over and/or given small flashes before they are gone and forgotten.

Theron does her best to give an edge to Libby and does so for the most part, but when Libby’s walls needed to be lowered, Theron still gives the hard exterior. I felt that Hoult did a decent job, however the Lyle in the book is a little more timid and jumpy with a little nerdiness/creepiness splashed in there. Hoult delivers on a couple of these things, but isn’t enough in the movie to make any sort of impact. In fact that can be said for most of the high quality cast in this film. They are there, give what they can and is gone or passed over very quickly. It’s almost as if the casting director just wasted these A listed actor’s time when they could have gotten someone else just to fill time in a scene.

I believe that the one good thing that director Giles Paquet-Brenner got right was the tone. This is a gritty novel and an equally gritty film. This wasn’t a bright film and the sad and angry emotions come through in the lighting and color of the film. Other than that, Paquet-Brenner needed do a lot of things different with this movie.

If you have had the opportunity to read the novel, stick with the novel because the film will only disappoint. If you haven’t read the novel, then Dark Places is still a huge let down for the casual movie-goer. The film’s pace is too fast for all of the information that is given and this high caliber cast is wasted on bad pacing.

The Verdict: Watch on Cable.