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Rewind Movie Review is a feature where I review a movie I haven’t yet reviewed, but I didn’t see in the theater. Today: Horns.
You know, I actually do appreciate the effort Daniel Radcliffe has been making to take different sorts of roles. Sure, Rupert Grint is off being Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson has become “Emma Watson — International Feminist Hero.” Whereas Radcliff can’t shake the Harry Potter thing off him. He probably doesn’t really want to, but that doesn’t mean that’s all he wants to do with his career. Challenges are the thing that seem to drive him, whether its baring his body (like in the stage play Equus) or his soul, like in this movie. I think he’s got talent, but that doesn’t mean I think he can do no wrong.
Horns is a movie from Alexandre Aja based on the novel of the same, a kind of supernatural mystery thriller. Daniel Radcliffe stars as Ignatius “Ig” Parrish, a guy in a small town accused of murdering his long time girlfriend Merrin (Juno Temple), although Ig has no memory of the night in question. But through all the pain and horror of losing his girlfriend and wondering if maybe he did the deed, something bizarre happens: Ig grows horns, devilish ones. But that’s not the end of the supernatural oddness.
Apparently the horns also influence people into spilling the deepest, darkest secrets to Ig, causing honesty that is at times highly comical but others highly traffic, like when Ig’s parents reveal their true feelings for their son and his alleged crime. Ig begins trying to solve the mystery of Merrin’s murder using his new “talent,” as his skills begin to mutate and grow. The circle of suspects and people expands to include Ig’s brother Terry, his close friend Lee, and flirtatious Glenna (Kelli Garner). By the end of it, Ig hopes to find the truth and achieve some sort of justice.
When you stop caring about the outcome, all the matters is the spectacle. tweet
But the problem is that the movie doesn’t pace itself quite well. Radcliffe is actually pretty great, showing off the different emotions required, including severe depression and wide eyed love. That part is from the flashbacks, easily the weakest part of the movie. We keep seeing these old scenes of Ig and Merrin meeting and falling in love, but they stop building character and soon become dull to sit through. And when you stop caring about the outcome, all the matters is the spectacle.
Now, the spectacle of the movie is pretty fun, with some weird and only slightly predictable twists and turns. The religious imagery continues smashing you over the head until you wonder “Does it mean anything?” Unfortunately the answer seems to be, “It’s vaguely cool and sacrilegious” which isn’t really that meaningful. The side characters were at times interesting or boring alike, which means that sometimes you care, sometimes you don’t.
The movie dipped in caricature and silliness, and I suppose that’s part of the idea behind the movie, intentionally being a “dark comedy.” But that kind of complex genre is difficult to pull off and I don’t think the movie manages it. I found the movie to pretty engaging at first, but as each flashback came and went, the time seemed to drag. As each new bizarre supernatural thing occurred, I wondered what the movie was really trying to do or say. Nothing wrong with a little dark religious humor, Dogma did a great job at that.
In two sentences: Horns is primarily something you can look to and say “Hey, Daniel Radcliffe was good in that, but I don’t remember anything else from it.” Not the best recommendation, but that’s as good as it’ll get.
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