Directed By Ron Howard

Starring – Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby

The Plot – Unravels the shocking true story of a group of disillusioned outsiders (Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, and Sydney Sweeney) who abandon modern society in search of a new beginning. Settling on a remote, uninhabited island, their utopian dream quickly unravels as they discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other. What follows is a chilling descent into chaos where tensions spiral, desperation takes hold, and a twisted power struggle leads to betrayal, violence, and the deaths of half the colony.

Rated R for some strong violence, sexual content, graphic nudity and adult language.

Eden | Official Trailer (HD) | Vertical

POSITIVES

For everything that “Eden” lacks in being a subtly subversive delve into the deconstructive side of humanity, it more than makes up for as the single trashiest R-rated episode of “Survivor” that you’ve ever experienced, and one that I had a blast with, despite an abundance of unavoidable issues that definitely keep it from being an exceptionally made film. This is Ron Howard indulging in his edgier side of filmmaking, not only with vividly conveying direction that articulates the less than desirable conditions of this preconceived paradise away from community, but also in tapping into the primal instincts that ultimately come to define people when law, order and civilization have been stripped away, resulting in a cunning battle of will’s between characters who you either support, hate, or feel entranced by, which easily makes it the most compelling film of Howard’s work since 2013’s “Rush”. The script undeniably has its many problems with overindulgence, particularly in the one-dimensional consistency of its tone, however it is effective at crafting and developing these pocketed dynamics within the ten people that live on this island, then tepidly toeing a line of vulnerabilities within those dimensions that makes each one of their interactions feel ripe with intrigue and overwhelming conflict, allowing it to ride the waves of inevitability, which does attain some much-needed drama for a film that is essentially just two hours of these beautiful and complex characters continuously coming to blow while forced to endure one another. It certainly helps that the movie is aided by some tremendously captivating work from a few key standouts in the decorated ensemble, but it’s also inspired with underlining angst and urgency from another environmentally adapting score from Hans Zimmer, that fuels the fires of speculation for the many proverbial lightbulbs that go off in the heads of these characters once trust and patience start to overstay their welcome. While it’s certainly not Zimmer’s most commanding work of his entire career, on the mitigated level of volume mixing and instrumental versatility, it does inspire enthralling compositions into the traumatic towards making this place feel like the very definition of Hell, which often corresponds brilliantly alongside some of those aforementioned performances that make this such a fun and frenetic engagement. Everybody involved does commendable work in some form or another, but it’s ultimately Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, and a career-defining turn from Ana de Armas that shines the brightest in such crowded surroundings. Law always succeeds in bringing to life this grungy, grimy personalities that are every bit as charming as they are untrustworthy, and with Jude’s facial registries doing much of the heavy lifting of his unbottled discontent for his island invaders, at least throughout the first half of the movie, it’s truly masterful how seamless he gets lost in the depths of such a mentally murky character, with a once ambitious doctor and explorer now being deduced to this instinct to survive, by any costs necessary. As for Sweeney, this will be the role that silences at least some of the doubters of her inability to act dramatically, both with intense screaming sequences that enthrall the viewer through some difficult to watch sequences, but also her natural progression of evolution towards the character that doesn’t skimp on the resiliency that allows such an initially sweet and sedated character to hold her own against some truly dangerous opposing forces. That seems like a great time to talk about Ana de Armas’ work because she’s the kind of devilishly manipulative antagonist that you can’t wait to see the vengeance of others enacted against (My audience clapped every time something bad happened to her), with a psychological disarming with ease that articulates the cunningly adaptive side to her demeanor that we’ve only seen present in Eli Roth’s “Knock Knock”. As the movie refers to Ana’s Baroness, she is very much the embodiment of the Devil, forcing characters against their will to carry out her sinister deeds, all without sacrificing the piercing cat swallowed the canary kind of smile that proves she’s always a few moves ahead of those continuously plotting against her.

NEGATIVES

Despite having a blast with “Eden”, I can’t in good conscience certify that it’s a film of exceptional quality, particularly with a horrendous looking canvas and conflicted screenplay that frequently get in the way of the movie’s maintained momentum throughout the first 90 minutes. On the former, the color grading here within the movie’s cinematography is made to heavily weathered, in order to compromise the ideal within such a paradise, but instead it just crafts these irredeemably ugly visuals that can’t even sporadically make the most of the intoxicating imagery of scenic splendor, in turn appraising a stomach-churning presentation that does vividly remind you at the end of the day that this is a Vertical Productions distribution, a studio known for making cheaply manufactured pictures that stand out for the most distracting kind of reasons. As for the script, it has taken all of the wisdom and virtues from a real life story, and stripped it down to its most cinematic core, without anything even remotely subtle or nuanced about the movie’s many focal points, or the motives for its characters to seek out such a risky proposition. To be fair, the exposition dumps within the opening act do illustrate an admiration that many people have for Law’s Ritter, in leaving behind a life of wealth to live against the grain, but the conflict of ten characters forced to split a two hour runtime that never feels remotely enough, is clearly evident in the lack of investment that I had towards a single one of them, with many of their dynamics one-dimensionally defined, with only the mesmerizing charisma of a charming ensemble left to drive any kind of interest out of me. The movie is full of stirring surprises that kept me on the edge of my seat for much of the runtime, but the biggest of these blows comes with about a half hour left of the film, with one monumental resolution, and it’s never able to even come close to that magnitude of momentum again. Instead, the movie just kind of peters on a bit longer than necessary in attempting to tie up the histories of so many real life figures, and it not only sews up an ending that feels abruptly rushed and convenient, despite the abundance of time given to its cause, but it always feels like something integral is palpably missing from the previously commanding formula, a fact that will become all the more clearly evident when you see the movie for yourself. Finally, I’m astounded by the film’s rumored 30-50 million dollar budget because not much is needed from the set designs, wardrobe, or even minimized special effects, which should’ve left ample opportunity to visually express the sickness that is eating Vanessa Kirby’s Dora alive from the inside. The real life Dora, as well as the character in the film both suffered extensively from Multiple Sclerosis, but unfortunately you wouldn’t know this from the lack of detail given to Kirby’s face, which feels a lot closer to a head first slide into home base, rather than an ailing and frail woman knocking on death’s door. Perhaps it’s Howard’s need to maintain the sexiness in his ensemble more than anything, but I could’ve definitely used more detail in this articulating, especially considering Kirby is probably the single furthest from the likeness of the character she portrays.

OVERALL
“Eden” very much takes a gripping story about ones search for Utopia and deduces it to a sleazy, slimy soap opera of an engagement, but not one necessarily plagued by any shortage of alluring dramatics, that, at least make it frenetically fun, starting point about the true story behind it all. While Howard’s production is plagued by inconsistencies, his dazzling ensemble delivers in any weather, particularly Ana de Armas, who doesn’t so much as cut the movie’s tension with a knife, but rather the chainsaw of her dastardly devilish actions supplanting Hell for those seeking Heaven.

My Grade: 6.2 or C-