Review for Green Room


(Originally posted on fight-evil.com)

*This is my first-time viewing of the film*

This film is, while decently suspenseful and tense, a moderately forgettable fair.

There was quite a decent amount of hype when it came out, and to an extent, Green Room delivers. The story is decently enjoyable, there's good gore throughout, and many of the actors did their parts well (especially Stewart). It's not all good, though, as the character of Amber, from my perspective, seemed to be a red herring for most of the film, and it was never really touched on. And near the end, a few scenes fall a bit flat, though the final scene with the dog was extremely well done, and more so, deeply sad.

Green Room's a good thrilling film with good gore, but ultimately, I don't know how memorable it'll be. For what it did right, overall, I think the movie's just about average. Not much more to say on this one. 7/10.

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I agree the movie becomes weaker towards the end. It still had me hooked in that I wanted to see how it turned out, but it's as if the director slightly rushed that final third act and the movie became very typical fare, going for the easier stereotypes, which is disappointing, since the first half set up such interesting and almost believable characters. It almost feels like a documentary when it begins, then it turns into a Hollywood film in the last stretch.

Patrick Stewart did play his role well, and I'm glad he didn't go for that over-the-top quality that lesser actors would've gone for.

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Indeed. While I didn't mention it, Stewart's low-key portrayal really helped add realism to the whole scenario.

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After I was disappointed by Blue Ruin, which, from my observations, is praised a lot, I was afraid the same thing's going to happen with Green Room. And I ended up liking it a lot. It did it's job, to create suspense and horrify (well, it horrified me). The performances were good. I liked the characters, so I cared when they died or were in danger. There wasn't anything particularly nonsensical about the story. I don't know what more I can want from a triller.

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I've not seen Blue Ruin, though it does seem to me as though it'd be mildly enjoyable.

I didn't feel the story was nonsensical, I just felt it, as another viewer put it, ran out of steam toward the end. I wasn't as invested in it as I hoped I would be. Glad you enjoyed it, though.

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Oh, I meant nonsensical in general terms, not about what you said :) I guess there was a bit of a lull towards the end, but I was still as invested.

As for Blue Ruin, it just wasn't for me. Or maybe the hype for that one changed my expectations. Anyway, I can't not recommend it. You might like it more than Green Room.

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7/10 is above average, to me. I went into this knowing nothing other than the Netflix synopsis, thinking it would be decent, weeknight filler but I was very pleasantly surprised. I thought it was excellent. 8/10

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I apologize for not seeing this reply earlier.

Yes, it should be said that my rating system is a bit different than others (something friends often mock me for, but as I've been using this system for many years now, I doubt I'll change it), in which my 7/10 indicates an average score. 6.5/10 is slightly below average, 7.5/10 above average, and so on, so forth.

Understandably, there are some individuals who don't care for it. My defense is that, as I was in school at the time I seriously got into horror films, using a 70% (C grade) as an average made sense to me, so it just sort of slipped over into how I rate movies.

As for this movie itself, I've still only seen it the one time, but it is one that I think would probably benefit from a rewatch later on, which would probably up my score.

Thanks for the reply, and I hope this finds you well.

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