Anyone see this?

Nick Cage and Elijah Wood. Saw it the other day and kinda liked it. It's not a great movie by any means, but I liked it because it had a major shift in tone. Movies rarely do this.

For those who haven't heard of it, here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLspHA8m6Ac

By watching it you would think this is some quirky-buddy comedy. Which it is, but, by the halfway point it changes and it grows darker. And it has a very unsatisfying, grim ending for most.


SUPER MEGA SPOILERS



By the end of the movie, Wood shoots Cage in the neck and kills him. Wood gets shot in the face himself and dies. His good nature and naivete leads him to his demise.



END SPOILERS




Reading the reviews for this movie and the IMDB forum comments, lots of people hate this shift in tone and the ending. That it's brutal, unexpected and unpredictable. It's predictable while watching the movie, but from the trailer you wouldn't expect the movie to go down that road.

It has a 5.4 on IMDB and 60% on RT. Critics seem to like it a bit better than audiences.

What's your opinion on a shift in tone? General audiences from what I've gathered seem to hate this kind of stuff. They want to know what they're getting themselves into and the movie to follow through on its promise. Surprises by switching the plot way off into a different direction and the tone seem to be frowned upon. Going by this example and a few others.

Your thoughts?

I thought it was a solid little flick. The shift in tone worked completely because Cage's performance sold it -- especially in the major reveal of his "true" character (the gun deal), but also through the entire first half. Largely because of his character, alert viewers should never feel safe in that film, and the shift shouldn't come as a total surprise. It's also a story about two completely immoral characters, so a nihilistic ending isn't out of sorts.

More broadly, I think tonal shifts work fine if they fit the characters and genre. It's not done all that well all that often, but it usually makes for weird and challenging stories.

It's probably true that many viewers have a want-what-I-paid-for mentality with films today. With blockbusters, that's fine. But I wish people were happy to be surprised by an indie sometimes -- even if it's a disappointing surprise. I don't think a movie's only goal should be to give you what you want, and I don't think an audience's only goal should be entertainment. Outside the Marvel-Abrams-Bruckheimer-verse, anyway.

Quoted from Heretic I thought it was a solid little flick. The shift in tone worked completely because Cage's performance sold it -- especially in the major reveal of his "true" character (the gun deal), but also through the entire first half. Largely because of his character, alert viewers should never feel safe in that film, and the shift shouldn't come as a total surprise. It's also a story about two completely immoral characters, so a nihilistic ending isn't out of sorts.

I agree. The movie implied that Cage knew almost everything and planned the whole thing, even though the first part made him look a bit inept, there were still clues that he was the opposite. And it was never explained if he planned it or if he stumbled upon the situation. Was it Wood's paranoia or was Cage insidious, which made it work. I think it was heavily implied that Cage knew more than he let on.

Like you, I appreciated the surprise.

Hmm,

Now you guys got me interested in this gear shift (more importantly, how I can use it in my own writes)