This film has proved just too weird for reviewers.
It can't be denied that Jake Gyllenhaal is a superb actor with a versatile talent that allows him to play virtually any character out there. However, that doesn't seem to have been enough to save his latest flick 'Demolition', which has left most critics deeply unimpressed.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Demolition
Gyllenhaal is making some questionable choices when it comes to cinema these days. Two other films from 2015 that he starred in, 'Southpaw' and 'Accidental Love', were equally unengaging as his latest endeavour, but he's got a lot in the pipeline so we're not losing hope yet. At least, we're trying not to. His latest film, about a businessman who becomes emotionally sparse after the death of his wife and sets out to take various objects apart and destroy his home, has been branded as 'all metaphor and no movie' by NJ.com, with Indiewire adding it's 'a frivolous lark, riddled with manufactured breakthroughs'.
Thankfully, none of that is down to Gyllenhaal's onscreen performance, but even he, according to My San Antonio, 'can't save this odd flick no matter how hard he tries'. The publication also criticized director Jean-Marc Vallée's underestimation of the audience's intelligence: '[He] doesn't seem to trust that we'll get it unless he laboriously spells it all out.'
Watch the trailer for 'Demolition' here:
It's a shame so much negativity has been fired at the film, especially as the premise itself isn't the problem. 'Vallée's movie itself begins falling apart after being so artfully put together', says Tampa Bay Times. Meanwhile, Detroit Free Press suggests the movie would've worked if the character hadn't been so complex: 'The movie is infinitely more interesting when Davis is just an unredeemable sociopath.'
On the other hand, 'Demolition' has its fans. Deadline praised Gyllenhaal as 'simply superb' and insisted that, even if it does get a little over the top, it 'ultimately heads in unexpected directions'. CBS Philadelphia thought that, contrary to some of the reviews out, Gyllenhaal did actually boost the film's enjoyability factor in that it helped us to 'ignore the fact that the narrative implausibilities are starting to add up', while Consequence of Sound lauded the 'delicate directorial touches' and 'inspired introspection'.
'Demolition' is set to be released in the US tomorrow (April 8th 2016).
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