The Tall Man (2012)
Director: Pascal Laugier
Starring: Jessica Biel
Rated: 15
Running time: 100 minutes
See it on: DVD & Blu-Ray, Netflix
Synopsis shorter than Indy’s sidekick: Children keep disappearing in the town of Cold Rock and a local legend known as the Tall Man is said to be responsible. Secrets begin to be revealed after nurse Julia Denning’s son is taken.
Need to know: Despite the look of the poster and the way the film is advertised, it is NOT A HORROR!
The Good
- Originality and unpredictability. This is, in my opinion, the main thing going for the film. I honestly did not know where the story was going throughout its entire running time and a big twist roughly an hour in turns the film on its head in a way I haven’t really seen before. At a couple of points there were moments when I thought ‘wow, I did not expect that’ and wondered what it was all leading to, in a similar way to films like The Cabin in the Woods. Unfortunately, this did not last long (see below)…
- Cinematography. Rather beautifully filmed. Cold Rock is aptly named; the shots bring out the cold bleakness of the town perfectly.
- Music. I’m a sucker for soundtracks featuring piano and strings and this is no exception. The score is wonderful and adds a lot of character to the scenes, whether chilling or sorrowful.
The Bad
- The story and twists. I love it when a film has a good twisty story which confuses the hell out of you before bringing everything together for a satisfying conclusion. For the first hour, I thought The Tall Man was going to be one of those films. The set up was great. It had the mystery of the disappearing children, the fear of an enigmatic being and generally a load of stuff going on that you don’t understand. Unfortunately the twist just under half way through is a massive ‘really?’ that just gets even more ‘REALLY??’ as the film progresses. Prior to this moment I had been fully engrossed in the tale; afterwards the film began to lose me with each passing minute. It had ceased to be believable.
- The ‘what?’ moments. After the one hour point, it seemed to me that the film was trying very hard to be vague and confusing simply for the sake of leaving you in the dark about what is happening, presumably to make the reveal more effective. As soon as I noticed this, it became irritating. The film began to drag and I honestly just wanted it to end so I could find out what had been going on, something which doesn’t happen to me for many films at all (a recent example is 2012’s Cosmopolis, which I flat-out hated).
- The reveal. It’s kind of shit. It really didn’t seem worth all the vague set-up and ‘what?’ moments and is definitely one of those films that makes you think ‘oh, it ended like that’. It was unexpected, but in a disappointingly underwhelming way. This said, the ending is still clever and, although the final scene is unnecessarily long, it does give you something to think about.
- Characters. There are a couple of characters who don’t really have a purpose to the story, and some of those who do are not explored as much as I would have liked. This just serves to make the film even more unnecessarily confusing and difficult to stick with.
Piss Off
- Jessica Biel’s mouth. Close it! Seriously, who walks around with their mouth open that much?
- The cave system/mine. Why introduce this if you’re not going to properly feature it in the story?
The Verdict: BAD. I wanted to like this and for the first hour I did. Unfortunately the twisting plot ultimately feels stupid and needlessly obscure while leading to a conclusion that just doesn’t quite work. However, I still recommend it to anyone looking for an original film in which you can’t guess what’s going to happen in the next five minutes.
For a film that confuses you for a finale that’s actually worth the hassle, try The Cabin in the Woods (2012) or Trance (2013)
And thus endeth the word of Tom.
The Word of Tom 