Review of Angel

Angel (VI) (2015)
3/10
Ridiculously stiff acting and boorish script turn the thriller into a comical cringe fest
22 July 2015
Still Waters (Angel) is almost a parody of classic sci-fi Species. It follows an enigmatic girl as she goes on a killing spree while a team of experts is chasing her. The delivery is astonishingly bad and highly unrealistic, it practically becomes comedy at times. Script consists of profanity spamming for every other sentences, which doesn't help the forced silly acting. The movie is a test of patience and endurance.

The problem starts with the main character Angel (Jenn Murray). Be it the direction or acting from Murray, she looks like a ludicrous imitation of mannequin. It's so terribly exaggerated with repetitive bland monologue and sudden burst of tantrum. This is supposedly to be a dangerous girl, yet she just looks odd as though she's is trapped in bizarre Halloween party for eternity, both the look and reaction are so fake.

Other characters don't fare better either. They are made of several crime drama clichés, the stern female investigator for example. She is the epitome of 80s macho template but now in lady form. The bravado is superficially overwhelming, she may just wear eyepatch and grow a beard. Surprisingly, John Hannah is here, though it doesn't help much with the feeble script.

Writing is sloppy, utilizing chain of curses for any development. Furthermore, the story is littered with irregularities, from surreal reactions to dumb characters. It tries to bring heavy issue like child abuse or psychological trauma, yet the presentation is too odd to be believable. There's no decent conclusion for the excruciating spectacle.

There's a term, uncanny valley, to depict CGI effect that almost mimics real human but eerily not enough and eventually looking like strange doll. This applies to this movie, it extremely fake and foolish, it's unbearable to watch.
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