Hold The Dark

Netflix’s ‘Hold The Dark’ – Darkly intriguing. . . I think

It hasn’t taken long for Jeremy Saulnier to emerge as one of the hottest new auteurs in Hollywood. His crowdfunded film Blue Ruin won him great acclaim, for its stripped-down, gritty revenge story. And Green Room disturbed and impressed with its brutal violence. Breaking from his unintentional colour-coordinated series, Saulnier’s new project is the Netflix original, Hold The Dark. From a screenplay by Macon Blair (Saulnier’s longtime friend and collaborator), based on the novel, the film is a dark journey into the isolated Alaskan wilderness. . . sort of. But it is a bleak reflection on the darkest corners of our humanity, and the bestial nature we harbour deep inside us. . . I think.

Hold The Dark finds Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright), a retired naturalist and wolf expert, contacted by Medora Slone (Riley Keough). Medora’s son was taken by wolves, and while she holds no hope for his survival, she wishes for Core to come to Alaska and hunt down the pack responsible. Medora’s husband Vernon (Alexander Skarsgard) is due back from the war soon, and she wishes to have remains for the two of them to bury. What Core stumbles upon during his hunt leads to bloody chaos throughout the small Alaskan community, as Medora disappears into the wild, with a vengeful Vernon hot in pursuit.

Hold The Dark

The film has all the signature Saulnier trademarks. He has a great eye for using the unique Alaskan setting to its maximum potential. The cold and isolation of the small town is on full display, at once both expansive and claustrophobic. It shares a lot in common with last year’s Wind River in that regard. Saulnier has a knack for getting the most out of what’s in front of the camera, actors included. The cast is terrific. Jeffrey Wright is a leading man stuck in a character actor’s body. It’s been tremendous seeing him get the spotliht recently with HBO’s Westworld, and hopefully we’ll be seeing more big things from the Hollywood veteran.

“The behavioural term is ‘savaging.'”

I wanted so desperately to like Hold The Dark. Saulnier and the cast can both pump out stellar work, but with seemingly all the ingredients of greatness, the film just feels like a huge misstep. Easy as it would be to blame the Blair’s script, it seems the bulk of the problem lies with the source material itself. Hold The Dark comes from a relatively shallow novel, and it evidently does not translate any better to a 2-hour film. The story begins intriguingly enough, as Core arrives in this tiny little piece of nowhere. And from his first night there, comes the first moment of true weirdness. Again, okay, we can stick around and see where this goes. But unfortunately, there’s not much to look forward to. The plot meanders along, as we move from quiet conversation to quiet conversation, with the occasional bloody showdown in between.

Hold The Dark

To its credit, Hold The Dark contains a terrific extended action scene at its midpoint, masterfully crafted. But that is a brief high point in a film that just never finds its footing again, because it seemingly doesn’t even know where it’s trying to get to. And when we do arrive at the anti-climactic finish, it’s just an unsatisfying gut punch, that leads to more questions than answers, and leaves you feeling like the previous two hours have simply been wasted.

In the end, the film just doesn’t live up to the potential of the team behind, and becomes less than the sum of its parts. Saulnier, Blair, Wright, and Skarsgard are all capable of putting out much better content than this. Unfortunately, Hold The Dark becomes just another subpar Netflix original, rather than a much needed feather in its cap.

This Guy Scores It: 5.5/10

This Guy

Who likes movies? This Guy! Who has way too much to say, and lacks the mental focus, or appropriate filters necessary to express himself in an acceptable fashion? This guy! Oh, and something about two thumbs.

Dark Phoenix
Venom

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