Since then, his name has been bandied about by big studios looking to bank on his growing legend.
But he decided to take a different route. He walked away from the action game (hopefully not for long), and signed up with Netflix to deliver a horror film. Any time a promising director jumps genre, I am always a bit worried. Evans had enough clout to make me suitably excited for the film's release. And as buzz grew, pics were released, and trailers dropped, my anticipation grew.
And then it dropped on Netflix. And I decided to review it for this here October Playlist.
Summary:
Thomas Richardson's (Dan Stevens) sister has gone missing. The only trace is a ransom letter from a strange island-bound cult off the coast of England. Thomas is sent to get her back. But he has no idea what he'll find on that island.Pros:
Absolutely Gorgeous: Evans knows how to use his camera. He and cinematographer Matt Flannery know how to show us wonderfully beautiful images. Even the blood-spattered gore is somehow lovely to behold. The establishing shots of locations are particularly good: the first time Thomas arrives at the little township the cult has established is breathtaking. He walks over a hill, and the camera follows him, revealing the sprawling hamlet in loving detail. We get to see every inch of this town, and the art department spared no expense. There are rickety, leaning cabins, a weathered church, and a rowdy public house. I liked all the angles in this movie: ceiling beams, bars of light, window and door frames, and even the uneven wood planks used to create the walls of the village all contribute to some really interesting imagery throughout. Scattered throughout the island loom wind-beaten stone statues to the cult's goddess. Between the rolling green hills, the sprawling blue skies, and the delightfully hodge-podge town, this film is absolutely gorgeous to look at. Flannery's camera swings and swoops and finds interesting ways to feel dynamic without being frenetic. That is, until he needs to be frenetic.Well Anchored: The film finds its strength in its three leads: a stoic Stevens, as Richardson; a hard-as-nails Mark Lewis Jones as Quinn; and a game Michael Sheen, as Brother Malcolm, who vacillates between weak-in-the-knees sniveler to rousing cult leader with aplomb. Stevens has been on a mission to distance himself from his work on Downton Abbey, and I'll be damned if he hasn't done it. His Richardson is a man possessed. A dangerous man. A man who's lost all his faith: in god and in humanity. He is clever, but handy in a fight. Lewis Jones is all hulking malevolence as Quinn, the right hand to Sheen's cult leader. What's truly frightening is his commitment: he will go to the places Malcolm won't. He will do the dirty work. And he is handy at it. Sheen's Malcolm is trying to hold it all together, and it's a losing endeavor. Sheen plays the man's arc beautifully and believably.
A Touch of Victorian: The script. also written by Evans, is a lot of fun. It packs in little period-specific tics and bits of vernacular. It never becomes hard to understand or dense; it just feels a little more authentic for it.
The Costumes: The costuming in this film, spearheaded by Jane Spicer, is absolutely fabulous. There are a wonderful assortment of hats and facial hair that I am always appreciative of. It is a funny juxtaposition, these men in their suits, pocket chains dangling, with mud splattered up to their shins. Civilization is trying to take hold, here. And it is failing. Nothing is new. Everything has a fine layer of dust and mud and wear on it. Wonderful.
World Building: Garth Evans previous films have all been set in the modern day. His knack for creating unique worlds for his protagonists to flit around in were an under-appreciated aspect of The Raid franchise. I was worried that tackling a period piece, fantastical though it may be, would be a sizable step to o'er leap. But, here, the world-building takes a front seat, and Evans does a damn good job of transporting us to the period. His world is intimately constructed, believably peopled, and consummately realized.
A Tale of Faith: Yes, there is gore. Yes, there is a creepy cult. Yes, there is a strange woodland deity. Yes, there are blood sacrifices. And yes, a man gets severed from the knave to the chops (in gloriously gory detail). But those are all trappings. This is a story about faith. About how a man can lose it, and how that ripples and echoes throughout his life. It's a story about how men find faith, and corrupt it for their own ends. The title is Apostle, but there are three apostles in this story. Richardson is a former missionary, who lost his faith in god: drowned in blood and choked in the smoke of a roaring fire. Brother Malcolm is a man who would find paradise: he's losing his grasp on it, though. He is a man searching for what's next, and where he used to hear whispers, he now hears only deafening silence. Quinn is the man who sees an opportunity, and grabs it. He wrestles power by doing the kind of violence that makes lesser men squeamish. Yes, Apostle is a horror film, but it has something to say, and I always appreciate that.
Cons:
Long in the Tooth: This movie clocks in at 130 minutes. It sags in the middle and loses some of its own earlier mad-cap immediacy. I would have preferred Evans set Richardson on this island, and gotten right to the hurly-burly.In Conclusion:
Evans delivers the goods on his third outing. Apostle is beautifully crafted, well-acted, and occasionally profound. Hop on his train: he's going places, and I, for one, want to go on the journey with him.Should You Watch It?
It is a solid genre thriller that never gets lost in cheap scares. It is a welcome change of pace for Evans' oeuvre. Check it out.Miscellany:
- This is the first English language film Evans has created since his debut in 2006, Footsteps.
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