Movie Review – 3 : AN EYE FOR AN EYE
The movie 3: An Eye For An Eye, sets itself up as a revenge tale. A horror movie that’s about vigilante justice and trying to make sense of the world. However, it is written to be far more intriguing than its surface level poster and tagline would lead you to believe.
First, it’s worth noting that it’s written and directed by a woman, Lou Simon, which in itself is usual within the horror genre. There are far few female voices creating the plethora of stories that can be told through blood, gore and the hardest human moments. I am looking forward to the day that we don’t have to highlight the fact that it’s a woman who’s written, produced, or has been involved with a project like this – but, for the time being it’s cause for celebration simply because we’re incredibily outnumbered in the film industry.
Film and music – as well as so many industries – have been quietly and complacently male-dominated. So, to see a woman like Lou Simon come through with such a strong story and voice it makes you (and me!) want to take pause and go, “Look, look, we can! It’s silly to be male-dominated. It’s silly to not allow everyone to share their voice. It’s silly to say who can and cannot.” I know that there’s been pushback for not saying a female fronted or female directed or what have you. I do understand the arguments for why it’s shouldn’t be necessary to even label it as such. Why shouldn’t we let the art speak for itself, right? I do hope we can get to that point, but, for now, just like other under-represented people – it’s important to celebrate those who continue to make and produce art so we put a spotlight on it, show how the perceptions of us being something other, something on the fringe, can slowly fade away.
When it comes to 3, it dives into some hard places. The one line description is: A man and a woman kidnap a rapist in order to extract a confession from him.
That is part of the story but, more so, it’s about where we’re pushed. It’s about the human condition just where our breaking points lie. Those are all important parts of the story but as someone who’s a bit of a psychology buff, you’ll get clues right off the bat with the fluid memories and just the yellow warning flags that something isn’t quite what it seems to be.
It hits on the moral dilemma of vigilante justice while being a well put together piece of cinema. From the quiet, intimate score to the well paced acting that plays the emotions well for the script. As you watch it, all these pieces feel like hints that there isn’t something quite right. You know there is more to the story, but can you unravel it before it is revealed?
It is a dialog heavy movie, but it feels natural and kept me tuned in. Although 3 is billed as a thriller and a horror movie, which arguably it is – but when you really get to the nitty-gritty of it, it’s writed as a character drama with lingering quiet moments between the two primary characters. Actors Todd Bruno and Aniela McGuinness carry that dialog. They’re talking about their issues, they’re talking about what happens when we go through something traumatic. They’re talking about the failures of mental health and just how we’re expected to make it through something even when we’re not prepared to do so.
And the man on the otherside of the coin is played by Mike Stanley. Can he survive? As you hear his pleas, you believe he is stuffed in a dank basment suffering.
I do sort of wish that 3 was set up to be a little more of a psychological thriller or at least marketed as such. The marketing, currently, is setting it up as a horror movie within the vein of Hostile and that seems vastly unfair to the script and the director who created this interesting piece of art which is kind of zeitgeist of our current moment. It touches on the issues of trust and morality, abuse, abuse by power and the idea that we can’t trust everyone for who they appear to be.
The best thing about the script is that it has an ability to give you hints that everything isn’t as it seems, yet leaves some twists hidden in the grass. They give you just enough of an idea that you’re smart enough, that you’ve figured out, that you’ve jumped ahead of where the characters are going – only to discover that there’s a little bit more to the story.
If you like horror movies with a little more meat on their bones and stories that make you question how you view life and the world around you a bit more, 3 might just be the thing for you. It’s an intriguing ride that keeps you guessing, a very smartly written script and directed with a certain amount of finesse where you stay emotionally with the characters.
3: An Eye For An Eye will be available on VOD platforms August 7th 2018.
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