It's going to be difficult to discuss this movie, and the things that we loved about it, without spoiling the big twist that gave the movie its juice.
Saying that always feels like a cop-out to me, because some people read reviews to hear the spoiler-y in-depth thoughts of guys like me, but then again spoilers suck, and sometimes, whether we like to read them or not, a movie just plays better without knowing them.
Pet is just one of those movies that I think deserves to be seen as out of the loop as possible.
Seth is an awkward loner who works at animal shelter, because he relates better to dogs than he does people. When he runs into his high school crush, Holly, on a bus, she doesn't remember him because hot chicks don't usually remember awkward geeks that walked past them in the hallway 10 years ago. This prompts him to do what any awkward loner whose crush won't give him the time of day would do in his shoes: he stalks her on the Internet and sends her flowers.
AND STALKS HER AT WORK. |
And that's all we're saying.
YEAH, SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE'S IN DIRE NEED OF HELP. |
I don't know. You watch the movie, then tell me if I'm crazy or not.
This movie is a twisted ride that doesn't really offer much in the way of sympathetic characters, not truly, although at times our feelings did get a bit confused. Dominic Monaghan and his leading lady, the gorgeous Ksenia Solo, had some gritty work (both physically and psychologically) to do in this one, and they handled it perfectly.
Anyone who watched the TV show Lost Girl already knows who Ksenia Solo is. I have never watched that show, but her performance here as the crazy bitch in a cage has made me realize that I need to, because the girl can act. She plays subtly dangerous very well, and for me, she is what made this movie work as well as it does.
And Dominic Monaghan is world famous for his role in the Lord of the Rings flicks and LOST, which honestly, is enough acting credit to buy him everlasting goodwill from me. The dude is also and animal fanatic, and he tends to be good in whatever he does, and it's nice to see him play a "bad guy" in this one. He does dark and creepy very well.
The one issue that we had with the movie was that the twist, which we really dug, was revealed way too early on. I really want to elaborate, but I'd hate to spoil the table-turning in this one.
YEAH. TIME TO RUN. |
A MOVIE FILLED WITH WET, RED DELIGHTS. THAT'S WHAT THIS IS. |
SIGH. |
DIDN'T REALLY THINK THIS ONE THROUGH, DID YA? |
Rent it now, and enjoy the carnage.
B+
Pet is available now on VOD and DVD.
Ksenia Solo may be the sexiest Latvian-Canadian actress of all-time. Then again, she may be the only Latvian-Canadian actress, so...
I watched this movie last weekend and was pretty surprised to find a dark comedy. At least, that's what I call it. Flawed yet quite entertaining. I totally can see why people might find it disappointing but this is not the way I start watching movies, with the expectation that my expectation will be met, I mean.
ReplyDeleteThe two leads were great but I wished other characters would have been more than plot devices.
I like this move.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Brazil and I read your blog often.
I saw this one a few months ago. Excellent movie.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've watched several seasons of Lost Girl(It started getting stale), and it actually took me a minute to realize that this was her. She doesn't look anything like the way she does in Lost Girl, and is a completely diff character. Guess she has some range.
People saying this was against women obviously wern't really paying any attention to this movie.