The Tall Man

The Tall Man_360P

SPOILERS but it's OK, you don't want to watch the movie. First off, 2 stars simply for the excellent acting and camera work. Nothing wrong there. Also, I fell asleep once and lost interest pretty much during the entire movie. Which may or may not make some points I make inaccurate, just being honest; but it says a lot about the movie that did that to me as well. I fell asleep at the turning point of the movie where J Biel was a 'good guy', being presented as a sole responsible person, delivering birth for marginal persons and being concerned about local social abuse. Basically the only decent person in town. Next day, I continued the movie, finding out that suddenly she was treated as a bad person. After trying to rescue a kid. Why? We see it later, but it surely confuses. Turns out there is a reversal, and the bad guy kidnapping a kid and hauling them to an abandoned building (?) is actually rescuing the kid. Turns out Biel is kidnapping kids in the first place to 'give them a better life', but it's OK because it's from 'poor people'. Kidnapping kids from their parents is a CRIME and a despicable act of a stranger against the kid and the parents. The movie tries hard to balance the situation, portraying Biel as responsible and caring; the kidnappers aids as 'moral' and refusing money, and the local townspeople as marginal, hopeless hillbillies; verbally abusing inmates; and the last kidnapped kid - which was a semi-adult - trying to rationalise the abuse against the benefits - failing 100%. Note that a KID can not do so, simply missing its parents beyond anything. Also, if a kid gets an opportunity in life, why not simply offer it instead of kidnapping him/her? Also, why does Biel insist all the kids are dead? Furthermore, wouldn't at least some been found after a search, or some return of their free will? In the end, the movie reveals the plot, and you realise you've been watching crap in several dimensions. Money back, please.

I just watched this movie to the end , just to know if I was mistaking and misjudging this movie. I didn't, and now I am angry I wasted my time with this. I already knew this movie is going to blow the moment the first "intense" scene came up, which was a fight scene between Biel and a dog. A scene you have scene 1000 times, but still they shot it in so many angles that it became obvious that there is not much substance where they could spend time. I liked the director's movie "Martyrs" very much, but this is a major let down. It has no relation whatsoever to Martyrs. So if that's the reason you would like to watch it, then forget it. Actually there is no real reason to watch this movie, as it is boring, uninteresting and you can feel that nobody really cared about making this movie (except for the money maybe). You know what? I am even too tired to properly review this, as this movie already cost enough of energy just by watching it. Also as always, never believe the 20 first 10/10 reviews on IMDb. Obviously even the PR-Agency didn't want to give this crap good reviews anymore after doing it 20 times.

Well I went into this movie expecting an average thriller, with mediocre acting and a lot of suspense. The kind of movie that deserves a rating of 6, when it meets the expectations. What did I get? Well I got a little bit of a below-average thriller, then things started to change What I expect from an intelligent twist in a story is that it gives you some clues about the twist, without making it too obvious, and when it happens you remember those clues and it makes sense, and it makes more sense than before the twist. This movie gives you clues about things, and you follow them and SUPRIISE IT WAS EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU! HEAVY Spoilers from now on. First our protagonist(?) has her kid kidnapped, by the "tall man". The kidnapper looks like the tall man. And at this point you can guess who the tall man is, even with very little information. Then we get really below average chase and combat scenes, and some ridiculous things like our protagonist tracking in the night in a forest thanks to the movie light crew who went into the forest and helped our mother in distress... And then TWIST! Turns out, the "tall man" was actually the original mother , who for some reason dressed like the tall man, and for some reason is strong enough take down and tie up a woman much younger than her, no screaming, no nothing, as though she were a pro. And she trained her dog to attack humans as well. And our protagonist was the kidnapper, and she kidnapped a kid in a small town and just kept him at her own house like she stole a stapler from the office. Mind you, there is a federal agent and police looking into these kidnappings constantly. Are we supposed to be impressed by this, because it surprised us? The twist is horrible because it makes the story make LESS sense, to the point of being ridiculous. Might as well have told us she was an alien. Oh, and before this this "twist" there was another that made us think that the townsfolk was organized, and they kidnapped the children. But I will not bother you with those details. The writer is trying to impress the audience by trolling them. The "point" was that they were helping those poor backwards family children by giving them to the rich who wanted to take care of them. I had not thought that I would have to explain why this was ridiculous, but when I read the comments here I saw that some people seem to think this movie was "deep". The protagonist claimed that the parents who were broken and depressed made their children the same way and the cycle must be broken. First of all, you don't need to kidnap anyone, if a child is truly subjected to abuse and deprivation then you can use legal means to break the cycle. Second, just because someone had a parent who was unlucky in life does not make them lost, it is quite the opposite, parents learn from their mistakes and give this to their children, and if they don't the children themselves do that. Most of our valuable experience comes from hardships. It is possible that some talented children will not have these talents explored because they did not have the resources, but this is not a reason to go kidnapping random kids. You could just support them with the proper instruction. Maybe some parents will not let that happen, but that is not a reason to go kidnapping children. Third, yes the government does not do a perfect job with social services and public schools, because guess what? Not many people want to pay a lot of money for good education of random kids they are unrelated to. This is not going to change because those random kids happened to be kidnapped by scary man with black robes, traumatized, and brainwashed into forgetting their families. I know making judgement about people is poor manners, but if I had to say, I would guess that this was written by a middle-class family kid who was raised among richer people, and just blamed his parents because not everything is his life was absolutely perfect.

This movie is barely worth reviewing given how terrible the script, acting and directing is, but what's given me the urge to do so is the narrow-minded and pathetic concept that is revealed at the end of the film. For those looking for the next "Martyrs", beware. You may be fooled by the first act of the film, and indeed when the first twist is revealed going into the second, but the story soon looses itself in a tangle of ambiguity and plods along in an attempt to land on its feet and make a pseudo-sociological point. A point which reveals Pascal Laugier's narrow perspective on society and reveals him to be a callow and clumsy writer. Certainly one of the worst endings I've ever seen, and not just because it disappoints on a narrative level, but also because it ends on such an idiotic and banal question.

The overall just of the movie is that unprivileged children deserve a better life-Agreed. Yet, the way they portrayed it was that the underprivileged are the children born to lower class families???? what the f**CK??? that was not only offensive (I was born into such a household) but it it statistically inaccurate. The stories of rags to riches don't just manifest themselves; they are real-life stories about people overcoming financial obstacles. I think the movie was splendidly done and beautifully acted but the message is beyond flawed and will not be taken lightly by audiences. Maybe Hollywood forgot that the majority of America is middle/lower-class families and they are the ones who go to the movies and make those "box office smashes" possible. Although I don't think that the producers foresaw this movie being a smash, they definitely could have foreseen the failure of the message resonating with laymen. I'm in disbelief that such a movie was even green lit or that A-list actors would associate themselves with such a controversial topic. I think this was a movie that just shouldn't have been made. This rich vs poor idealism is going too far and is dangerously flirting with discrimination, which will inevitably lead to violence. America needs to heed this warning and stop finding ways to hate and discriminate against each other; it is not predicative of anything positive.

This is a well conceived, well directed and well acted film. The atmosphere throughout is very ominous and the twisting plot keeps us questioning both what is happening, and what our feelings about the unfolding events are. It is, in my mind, quite similar to Martyrs, the writer/director's previous film, in that they both have sophisticated concepts behind them that we don't often find in horror. That's not to say, however, that all fans of Martyrs will enjoy this. Martyrs' disturbing content was relevant to the overall concept of the film. This film has an interesting concept but doesn't require the 'shock' to make it's point. So, if you are hoping for something really disturbing, a 'Martyrs 2' if you will, you will probably be disappointed. If however, you want something fresh that makes you question and think, then you should get something out of this. I can't say that this is as good as Martyrs, but very few horror films are. It is however, a lot better than many seem to think and it's low rating seems to suggest. This film is an interesting next step for the writer/director. It feels like his movie, it just doesn't leave you feeling mentally scarred at the end, which is fine by me.

This is not a horror movie. OK, marketing, I get it. But I don't think the filmmaker was sure what he wanted to make here, either. The conceit is thin; characters strain credibility (though props to Biel, sans-lipstick, for doing the best with the material); expositions are awkward (eg when the 'real' mother 'confronts' a bloodied Biel), muddy, and repetitive especially toward the end. The movie is oddly segmented and paced, with over half of the runtime devoted to the unenlightening 'aftermath.' Its social or philosophical 'point,' if there is one, is impoverished, childish, trite, ridiculous. For some reason I was reminded of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Loft (2005), as another 'horror' film that seemed to suddenly veer peculiarly into a different trope, but there it worked (or at least worked better) in creating a disjointed, uncomfortable, can't-really-put-your-finger-on-it ambiance that ultimately fit the point of view of the movie--without the sophomoric philosophizing of this film. I think the filmmaker might have been ambitious, but a callow hand and too many shortcuts made this tall concoction deflate into a collapsed pastry.

i really don't write reviews a lot but i felt i would give this movie a boost on positive ratings because it deserves better than a 6. At minimum it deserves 7.5, but for me i give it a 10. I liked the direction of the movie, scenery, and the storyline. Movies nowadays are so predictable but this one isn't at all. i think the director was clever in the way they made it. It makes you think about the world we live in and i like movies like this that make you think. This movie i totally could not predict it and i usually figure a movie out within 30 minutes of watching it but not this one. You have to watch it all the way thru. The movie has a major twist towards the last 40 minutes of the movie. The way it was kinda marketed i was expecting a horror movie and i decided to watch it just because i couldn't find nothing else and it turned out to be a good little gem. I could see how it could make someone mad if they are expecting a horror movie but this movie is more of a thriller/drama that starts off with what looks like it would be a horror element. They only used the horror element initially to pull you into the movie to pay attention to the story. As you progress thru the movie you realize its has a much deeper storyline. Anyway I say give the movie a chance, this definitely goes down as one of the movies i like enough to add to my collection and i recommend it.

THE TALL MAN is directed by Pascal Laugier, who directed MARTYRS. From that sentence alone, you're probably already formulating expectations that this will be a bloody, nasty, little horror film starring Jessica Biel. In fact, you can't be any more wrong. The most important thing you need to know about this film before seeing it is that it's NOT a horror film. It's more of a mystery thriller/drama. The second important thing is to avoid all and potential spoilers. I went in knowing very little about the film (other than its basic storyline), and the end result is that much better. Early reviews for THE TALL MAN suggests that it's a horrible film, but I'm pretty sure the negative reception had more to do with people expecting it to be a full-fledged horror flick rather than its actual quality. In fact, I'm afraid the film's fall would be due to people's expectations. If there is one similarity between MARTYRS and this film, it would be the presence of an underlying social commentary. Other than that, the similarity ends there. Jessica Biel, the lead actress, pulls off a phenomenal performance. She brings incredible conviction to her role that she holds our attention. The film is also shot beautifully, and director Laugier does a masterful job keeping people guessing until the very end. Overall, the film is likely to polarize the audience like Laugier did with MARTYRS. However, if you leave your expectations at the door and your mind opened, you may be left surprised and profoundly moved.