The Portable Door (2023)

The Portable Door (2023)

 

3/10

 

Starring

Patrick Gibson

Sophie Wilde

Sam Neill

Christoph Waltz

 

Directed by Jeffrey Walker

 

You can tell when something isn’t well adapted. I haven’t read the book this movie is based on (The Portable Door from the J.W. Wells & Co. series), but the way the movie just glosses over so much makes it clear that a lot is missing. Maybe the issue lies with the book itself—I wouldn’t know because this movie didn’t make me want to pick it up.

The movie failed on multiple levels to connect the dots. From odd narration choices to poorly explained scenes, this lack of cohesion made the film boring. The magic system and the world it operates in are barely explained, leaving the audience to guess why things happen or piece things together themselves. In the end, the movie didn’t bother to address critical details, like the role of the goblins, the differences in the characters’ powers, or why some people have these powers while others don’t. Instead, it glosses over these elements, leaving us in the dark. It felt like the filmmakers were banking on sparking interest in a sequel, but all I could think was how I could’ve spent my time doing something better than watching this.

The story revolves around Paul Carpenter, a man struggling to keep his life together. He shows up for an interview and, while waiting, is distracted by a man claiming to be his old teacher. After a bizarre series of events involving a dog and a chase, Paul unexpectedly ends up at the J.W. Wells Company, sitting for an interview he didn’t even know he’d been entered for.

Paul gets the job and quickly learns that the company operates behind the scenes of the human world. However, we don’t get a clear picture of how this works—just a vague example of them orchestrating two people meeting one another.

Paul is partnered with Sophie, a seer who can read people’s minds. We later learn that Paul is a diviner, someone who can locate things or find a way out of situations. The two are eventually separated, with Sophie assigned other tasks while Paul is given a secret mission to find a Portable Door.

We watch Sophie undergo a significant personality change while Paul gradually learns how to use his powers. As the story progresses, a deeper secret about J.W. Wells & Co. is revealed, exposing that things aren’t as smooth or straightforward as they seem.

Take your time to search for something else to watch.