Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert
Have I Seen it Before: Nope. Missed it in theaters, tragically. What else have I been missing this year? The mind reels.
Did I Like It: Easily one of the best films of the year, I can’t help but be absolutely floored by the reality that A) Sam Raimi could be let loose to do what he does best in a section of his career post-Spider-Man (2002) and B) Sam Raimi could even theoretically do what he does best in the confines of a story that contains not one ounce of the supernatural. All he had to do was pich a movie that would be Cast Away (2000) if it had been directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Aside from all of its thriller trappings, the film expertly switches back and forth from sympathizing with McAdams and O’Brien.
McAdams is giving what a pessimist might call a career-best performance, and I’m choosing to call a mission statement for the next phase of her career. Amanda Seyfried might be enjoying something of a renaissance at the moment, but McAdams may be the more interesting performer coming out of Mean Girls (2004). She doesn’t flinch in the face of the blood, guts, and indignities thrown her way, and is willing to convincingly go dowdy in the film’s earlier, more civilized portions of the film at a time when other actors at this strage of her career might blanche at the idea of letting go of one’s natural ego and embracing debasement.
The only flaw I can point to is that there might be just a hair too much CGI in the film for its own good. Panoramas on the deserted island look like they were filmed in a studio, leaving one to remember just how real something like Cast Away was.
And then there were those boars. What the hell was up with the boars?