Here's Murtada to review the new wide release Crimson Peak.
Visually Guillermo Del Toro’s Crimson Peak is a big sumptuous meal. So visually full at all times that it masquerades a thin plot and uninteresting lead character and almosts gets away with fooling us into thinking it a great film. The compelling visuals keep it enticing throughout: Huge frilly sleeves on the dresses; red smoke flaring up from creeks on the floor; a creepy black skeleton hand moving ominously. It never stops.
Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is an aspiring writer in late 19th century New York. She falls for the smolderingly handsome Englishman Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) despite the quiet adoration of her childhood friend Alan McMichael (Charlie Hunnam). After being whisked away to England by her new husband she has to contend not only with his malevolent sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain) but also with their old decrepit mansion that might be full of ghosts.
Something sinister has definitely happened there at some time in the past.
Del Toro is so eager to get to the house, that we spend too little time on the romance. If you want to out-Brontë Emily Brontë maybe spend more time making us believe in the connection between your two leads? The script, by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins, is a bit thinly plotted. All obstacles are set and then immediately resolved, sometimes even in the next scene. No stakes, no real drama.
More damningly there are not enough scares. Creepy visuals and portentous sounds just aren’t enough. The chilly and sinister vibe comes mostly from Chastain’s full-on Mrs Danvers performance. Everytime she is on screen she is so much fun to watch. She doesn’t go big but rather a very measured evil ghoulishness. Expect to see quotes and gifs aplenty. In comparison Wasikowska suffers from the lack of drama as written. Despite being the lead and in almost every scene, she is given very little to play with. Scared mostly, determined sometimes. She does however get a lovely dance scene with Hiddleston. If there was more of that, the romance would’ve become more alluring.
A lot of intricate detail evidently went into costume designer Kate Hawley’s work. However some of the costumes are not eye-pleasing. The sets, by production designer Thomas E. Sanders, though, are to die for and are the film’s strongest element. The minutiae and sophistication of the labyrinthinian house are so successful it becomes a fascinating character on its own. The house and the fun Chastain has with her evil part make this an enjoyable couple of hours at the movies.
Grade: B