Movie Review: "Wreckers" (2011)

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Movie: "Wreckers"
Director: D R Wood (Dictynna Hood)
Year: 2011
Rating: UR
Running Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

David (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dawn (Claire Foy) are a seemingly happily married couple. But when David's estranged brother Nick (Shaun Evans) shows up to stay with them unexpectedly, secrets get revealed that start to drive a wedge into their marriage.

We love Benedict Cumberbatch, but even he couldn't stop "Wreckers" from being the trainiest type of wreck.

This is director Dictynna Hood's one and only feature film, and it's probably for the best. Like most indie art movies, it's a slice of life story, this time one taking place in the United Kingdom. It's about a Dawn and David, a married couple who have been trying and failing to conceive a child. They have just moved back to David's childhood neighborhood before encountering his brother, who shows up unannounced and puts a damper on their lives as pasts get revealed and lives are torn apart. You can tell Hood/Wood is a rather inexperienced director and writer as there isn't a clear plot or focus to the movie. The best way to describe the story that unfolds here would be 'overly dramatic.' Ugh, talk about drama, and not in an interesting, compelling way. The story covers things like lies and deceit, divorce, infertility, infidelity, child abuse, and mental illness, among other things, yet does little to make an impact regarding any of these hot-button, emotionally charged issues. Despite it being such a dramatic film, we almost never get connected to any of the characters or their plights in the slightest. "Wreckers" is extremely poorly paced, and despite its short 85 minute run time, it just feels like it drags on forever. On top of this, it's very, very dialogue heavy, though you'd be hard pressed to understand most of what the characters are saying and subtitles are often a necessity.

You would think having an actor the caliber of Benedict Cumberbatch would help elevate this into something interesting, but it doesn't, not one bit. Though his own individual performance is good and nuanced, what is produced here is such a ridiculous mess that even he, Smaug himself, can't save it. Every single problem in this film goes back to the lack of focus as several few plot points get mentioned and then dropped just as quickly as there were mentioned, leaving the audience to ponder why they were ever brought up in the first place. Some may like the depressing nature of this film and interpret it as something much more deep. The ambiguous nature of its writing might be seen by some as wiggle room for interpretation, but for us, it's just a sign of poor, inexperienced writing. Avoid this one at all costs, even if you're the most hardcore Benedict Cumberbatch fan out there.

My Rating: 3.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 3/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%
Do we recommend this movie: AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
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One year ago, we were watching: "Snowpiercer"