Dark Places
The truth about Charlize…
if it feels like we’ve been waiting a while for this adap of Gillian Flynn’s second crime thriller, that’s because we have: its filming pre-dates production on David Fincher’s adap of Flynn’s Gone Girl, to which this is inferior.
Charlize Theron plays Libby Day who, aged eight, survived a family massacre for which her brother is currently incarcerated – sent down on the strength of his little sister’s testimony. Now in her late 30s Libby’s alone, angry and skint; anonymous donations from sympathetic strangers that have kept her in booze and baseball caps are finally drying up. Coaxed with cash by Lyle (Nicholas Hoult) and his amateur detectives club, Libby’s persuaded to explore her brother’s possible innocence, an endeavour intercut with flashbacks to the real events.
Dark Places is well placed to capitalise on the vogue for possible-miscarriage-of-justice shows ( Making A Murderer, Serial and The Jinx). But while Flynn’s story is taut, writer/ director Gilles Paquet-Brenner never quite delivers the leftfield shocks of Gone Girl. Plot is front and centre here – who really did what, how and why slowly unfolding – which overshadows complex characters who have space to grow in the book.
Changes from the original text aren’t drastic, but some of the rough edges are missing – the cocky coldness of the ‘Kill Club’ who gaze at the goldfish bowl of Libby’s life without sympathy, the underexplored cruel manipulations teenage Ben faces; such absences hurry the plot along but dilute the overall picture of pain and poverty in Midwestern America.
At least the supporting cast is strong: Christina Hendricks as Libby’s put-upon mum, Tye Sheridan as the young Ben, Corey Stoll as the older version and Chloë Grace Moretz as Ben’s live-wire girlfriend Diondra. But without Fincher’s visual flair or careful characterisation, it feels like a so-so Sunday-night drama – so maybe wait a few extra days for the DVD, out 22 February.
THE VERDICT Workmanlike, lean and diverting but ultimately lacking in key things – a strong sense of place and a true feeling of darkness. Which is a bit of a blow, given the title.
› Certificate 15 Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner Starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Chloë Grace Moretz, Tye Sheridan Screenplay Gilles Paquet-Brenner Distributor e One Running time 110 mins