Mom’s been in town, which really puts a damper on my movie plans. However, my therapist has been on me to join some MeetUp groups (apparently meeting people is a way to deal with social anxiety, whodda thunk), and when I found one nearby going to the movies, that felt like a good escape.
Terminal stars Margot Robbie as, um, uh, I actually don’t know how to describe this. That’s as far as I knew going in, and it took a while for the story to come together enough to figure out what was happening. She’s an assassin or something? Some role that fits well for psycopaths, and she’s trying to turn her competition against each other. Basically picture her Harley Quinn, and now imagine if Harley were more calculating that chaotic. Also, Mike Myers and Simon Pegg are somehow involved.
Some of the film really worked. The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous, with incredible colors and images that really popped. The performances, also incredible. Pegg and Robbie had some great back and forth banter (which is apparently what drew Pegg to the role) and it was wonderful seeing Myers on screen for the first time in a while. Oh and whoever did Robbie’s hair and makeup needs to be my best friend, because damn.
So then why didn’t it work? It was all style and trying-to-hard-to-be-capable-of-any-real-substance. It brought me back to John Dies at the End or Cosmopolis, two other films that are exquisite in their style, but offer nothing substantive other than confusion. Terminal at least did eventually tie things together into something that made some sense, but it took so long to get there, it wasn’t worth the journey. Better to just view some stills and maybe a few short clips than sit thru the whole thing.
Terminal – \m/ \m/