dj_vlado

Seeing the movie (made 2018) after Captain Fantastic (2016) made me see the similarities but also the differences in quality between the two.

The plots of the two follow similar paths: living in the wild in gorgeous settings, conflict, discourse whether life styles and paths of the kid(s) and father should be the same.

However, where Captain Fantastic excells Leave No Trace falls flat. It lacks the heart the, soul and beautiful writing. For instance relationship between Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) and Will (Ben Foster) lacked the debth and nuance to elavate the movie for me. Cinematography also leaves me wanting, this movie fails to capture the aesthetic of gorgeous wilderness, again something that Captain Fantastic managed to capture fatastically (no puns intended).

This movie is watchable but clearly weaker of the two.

As expected the movie is visually gorgeous, you can feel how passionate Cameron was in making the milieu of Pandora and what lies beneath the water.

However, the movie is seriously lacking in writing department. Plot is highly predictable and corny. Dialogue is at some parts so terrible that it cuts through any tension or immersion the movie might have built by this point. Crying at loud, in the movie na'vi kids said 100+ times "bruh", "bro" and I believe I even heard couple of "cuhs". Due to terrible screenplay it is almost impossible to judge whether avting was good or not, actors were deffinitely handed great chances to succeed.

Also pacing was was off between acts and thematically tone switched too much. And finally, I believe movie should have been at least one hour shorter.

All in all I feel that the movie is visual spectacle that lacks in almost all other components.

There is no plot, story and shred of visually beautiful movie making.

It drags and never begins. Nothing scary or emotionally pulling either.

Would not recommend.