Stillwater (2021)

Stillwater (2021)

 

6/10

 Starring

Matt Damon

Camille Cottin

Abigail Breslin

 

Directed by Tom McCarthy

 

Stillwater will not get a nod from me as a fantastic film, because the movie had a very slow start even though it aimed so hard to play it close to reality. That aspect of the movie was hard to overcome and when the movie picks up pace, the movie moved fast and set itself up for a grand finish. The problem is now that, they messed up the ending. The ending was a grand letdown, but the middle part of the movie is fun to watch regardless of Stillwater’s lapses.

Acting wise, this movie gets a thumbs up. It made the best use of its actors, and the blend of cultures was cool enough. I guess this will be one of those movies that will be overlooked by many, and I will not blame them. It took a lot of self will to continue watching based on the slow start because it seemed Matt Damon’s character (Bill) was just busy running up and down achieving nothing. But the moment he started behaving like an American, careless, selfish and believes he runs the town the movie picks up.

The movie plot is about a father who had to travel to France to visit his daughter who was imprisoned there for the death of her roommate. The father (Bill), at first was lost in the culture, until his neighbor in France came to his rescue.

Bill’s visit changed from a visit to investigation when his daughter claimed innocent and knew the name of the person, she believed had killed her roommate. Bill wanting to do the best he can to get his daughter free, almost got himself killed. But not withstanding we see him lie, kidnap and put the life of others around him in danger all in the aim of getting his daughter free.

It was at the point of his desperation that the movie picks up, but then it was at this point that the movie delves from some realism to fictious ideas of what people will do.

The movie is loosely based on the life of Amanda Knox. She is a lady who was imprisoned in Italy for the death of her roommate. She finally got freed, based on DNA inaccuracies. Seeing this movie and how it played out in the end, I do not think Knox will be one of the people cheering for the publicity of this film.

Well, if you are a fan of Damon, this is not a bad movie to watch. I for one will not tell anyone to not see this movie, I will just drop the note that the start is slow, and the ending is a letdown. Plus, there are some strings left untied when the movie draws a curtain on its long ride.