danielpcullen

First, don't bother to read any review that was posted July 17, 2023. Only have the show had gone out at that point. No one can review adequately a whole story after watching half of it.

This is a very compelling story of how the system failed because the crime was happening in a sub-culture that the officials in the system did not (in many, not all, cases did not want to) understand or respect. It's a story of a very different era of extreme marginalization of LGBTQUI+ people. Much has changed since the time the events in this program transpired. Much still needs to change, but the 1980s and 1990s (certainly earlier too when the events here started) were a time that needs to be understood to get the point of how this violence fit into American culture.

Also, it's a true serial killer story that spends very little (enough, very little) time exploring the killer and a lot (there can't be enough) time exploring the impact on family and friends who lost humans they loved to this terrible man.

If you want to be transported to a time and place that is very specific to understand system failure and if you want to be moved about the impact of loss from violence, centering the lives of those who experienced the loss and their feelings about the one this killer took from them, check this out. It's only four roughly one-hour episodes. Together, they effectively tell the story the film-makers set out to tell (NOT the story of the killer -- that was included, but isn't at all the focus here). It's a powerful story, told lovingly. As a person who spend the 1980s in high school and college, this era is deeply formative for me. From my perspective in 2023, it's hard to remember the culture of those days. This series takes us to that time and helps us see how the deeply held, unquestioned, fundamental attitudes of the day shaped institutional response to crimes that left holes in families that still hurt decades later.

I can enjoy a good suspense thriller and I'm willing to suspend my disbelieve to an extent. But when a show makes a big deal out of being a science thriller and it's based on such mind-numbingly dumb primes is maddening. It's water, but it defies the law of conservation of mass because... it's on the moon? What?! Also, it's just two tiny hydrogen atoms bound to one oxygen atom, but it behaves like a virus, which is hundreds of thousands of atoms (simple, sure -- but not water simple).

But, sure, you're not here for the science. You're here for the thrills. This was eight episodes that should have been four. Other than the idiotic "it's water, but it's 'lunar water' so it's..." oh, never mind it's so ludicrous I can't even summarize. Other than that surprise, which is only a surprise because it is so, SO stupid, there are no surprises here. It seems like it could be a modern The Thing, but on the moon. Tense and exciting as they race against an unseen foe, trying to figure out what they're up against. If it were a tense and exciting thriller, the science illiteracy would be easier to accept. It is not a tense and exciting thriller. It's a slog that's at least twice the length it should be.

I put this on ready to enjoy a fun trainwreck. "So bad it's good" movies are most fun when they aren't trying to be ridiculous. That's what I expected. When the infamous twist came (earlier than I expected -- it's about halfway in, not near the end), I agreed that it (and the movie) was a laughable, ludicrous failure.

But then... I starting thinking about the movie that this is, not the movie that got critical drubbing, that most people expect, that was marketed, etc. That movie, the Body Heat-like sexual thriller? If that's what you're in this for, it's terrible. If you think that's the primary story and the twist is just a way to layer in some modern cleverness, you will see a terrible (ludicrous is really the right word) failure. But that's not what this movie actually is. The primary story is actually the mind of a boy. That story is actually pretty well realized. I'm shocked to find this -- there's actually a pretty good (not great) movie here. It takes a shift of perspective to see it that way, though. There actually is no twist at all if you except that what everyone is calling the twist to the main story actually *is* the main story. The twist to the primary story of the femme fatale coaxing the gigolo into murdering her husband? That's only a twist if you think that's the primary story. It's not, though.

I think the failure was in marketing. Also it might have been better opening more clearly that the movie the viewer is about to experience is the story of a troubled boy's elaborate fantasy, a dream he's working out through video game tech. I don't know, but if this story had been offered as an episode of Black Mirror, it might have been more warmly embraced than what was presented to be an sex and murder thriller for the big screen. People expecting another Body Heat are only going to be disappointed by this movie. It actually reminded me more of Cloak and Dagger (the 1980s Henry Thomas & Dabney Coleman movie) if anyone remembers that movie about a boy with an elaborate fantasy father figure. If you go in expecting to learn about a boy through his fantasy life, you might find a decent movie. Just remember the primary story is Patrick's (Rafael Sayegh), not Baker Dill's (Matthew McConaughey).

I can't believe I'm actually saying this. I was ready to give this about a 2 or 3 rating, laugh at it, and go on my way. But actually... I kind of liked it. It's a touching story of a troubled boy with an abusive stepfather. It's not better than a 6 or 7 (the cat? what the hell was that about? you cast the luminous, talented Diane Lane, and that's all you give her to do? ... I could go on; there were lots of problems). But it's not a ludicrous failed thriller, either, because it's not actually the thriller that was marketed (or reviewed).