The Voices (Cinema Screening)

(spoiler free)

The Voices has one of the best trailers out at the moment, it presents the film to be cool, quirky and darkly funny. With a great track pulling all these elements together you can’t help but be intrigued and personally I couldn’t wait to see The Voices. Much like many films these days the trailer was just too good and the film didn’t live up to it.

I hate that about trailers, they really are ruining films these days. Far too much was given away in the trailer for The Voices so much of the suspense or tension didn’t really work because I knew what was going to happen. Despite this though I still really enjoyed the film but it definitely would have been more effective if the trailer had been more conservative. Let’s talk about what was good though. Firstly Ryan Reynolds performs really well here as Jerry. This role gave Reynolds the opportunity to showcase his wide range of ability as an actor and he was easily the best thing about the movie. His performance was supported well by the rest of the cast too. Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick are solid as usual but they work really well in the film alongside Reynolds. Casting was an element that I thought The Voices got spot on. The Voices gave us a refreshing slant on the serial killer genre and really humanized the killer, the film deals with some pretty dark themes and is rather creepy at points. However there is also a humourous theme running through the film, often this clash of tones would irritate me but here I really thought that the dual-tone worked great.

To be honest I wanted to like this film a bit more than I did but there were definitely some issue with The Voices. My biggest issue was an element of the ending. The final scene could have been really cool and maybe even have become iconic but the inclusion of one element just ruined it. The final scene of a movie is so important and The Voices messed up big time here. The element I am discussing, but won’t mention specifically to avoid spoilers, leaves a really bad taste in the mouth and taints your view of the whole film. I’m sure many won’t find this element a flaw in any way but I did, I just thought it was pretty stupid and didn’t fit the tone of the film. On top of this ending the film just had little left to offer after the trailers, admittedly that is the fault of the trailer and not the film but I was left feeling a little underwhelmed because of this. Apart from these elements though I did really enjoy the film and I had fun with it in the cinema. I don’t think it is quite as funny as it thinks it is but there are some aspects of the film that are really enjoyable. I really enjoyed how perspective is portrayed in the film and thought that this was used very cleverly especially in building a tense and sinister atmosphere.

The Voices is a refreshing film, and Reynolds makes it his own with a great performance. There are some clever aspects included and the dual tone of dark humour and real tension works well. Unfortunately though the film really struggles to stand up to the trailer and the final scene has the potential to undo all the hard work that the rest of the film has done.

Rating – 7/10