Wages of Sin (I) (2011) User Reviews (2)

An Intense Look at the Nature of Good and Evil

[troop9242 · 31 August 2011]

This is a simple story on the surface. Two young people kidnap a young woman for ransom, but can't get the money as quickly as they had hoped. But with this simple premise a whole world of conflict and tension is created.

I was sucked in by the style and tone of the movie which reminded my of Terrance Malick's BADLANDS, in its sparse vision and the Coen brothers' BLOOD SIMPLE with its quirky dark humor. And the ending caught me completely off guard.

Although there are only three actors in the cast, they were able to hold my interest and keep me guessing as to what was going to happen next. None of the actors are household names, but should be on everyones radar for the future.

The "look" of the film is also very effective. The creative lighting, use of shadows and an overall claustrophobic feel help add to the atmosphere of the movie. The Cinematographer, Michael Franks, should be congratulated for this achievement.

This film does what so many studio movies try to achieve - create believable characters and a compelling story, but this movie does it on a limited budget, with lots of style.

Powerful and compelling

[aaronjwyckoff · 9/10 · 15 April 2017]

When I saw the low rating this movie received from other people, I was expecting a typical poorly written, poorly performed, poorly shot movie. This was anything but. The entire cast (okay, so that's only five people, including two who never appear on screen) gave an outstanding performance. Lauren Martin (Celee) in particular demonstrated excellent depth of character and frankly, if this had been a major studio production, might have won an award for it.

The writing was powerful and overall well paced, with a good mixture of tension and twists. This might not have been a big-budget film, but it doesn't show in the cinematography, which left little to be desired. The basement scenes were a little dim to be fully appreciated but, well, it was a basement.

The only thing I can really come up with for the negative side was the length. I think tightening things up by about 8-10 minutes would have made it a faster, even more compelling movie without significantly hurting the character development.

Personally, I loved the ending (and definitely didn't see it coming), though I can see how some people might find it unsatisfying.

Overall an excellent movie, better than many major studio mass market films.