I think it's a movie that thinks it's better than it actually is and despite being more than decent it is quite disappointing compared to the anticipation it had. I still like it though, I think it delivered just about what you'd expect, quite similar aura to "Gone girl" which Ben Affleck featured in too, just not as good. It's not that complex of a story, the movie goes in the exact same direction you expect it to, which let some people down but as exciting as dramatic twists make a movie, I don't think a film should be considered poor just because of the lack of them. It reveals it's hands early,so there's no mystery but as predictable as the story gets, I was still quite intrigued to understand how the main characters, Melinda and Vic, thought. That was the only real let down for me, I wish it had more character depth, maybe show us how exactly their relationship began and whether or not it was that perverse from the start.
It could have also done well with a slightly shorter runtime, it's a slow thriller and I think it sits right on the edge of becoming too long a movie. There also some plot holes and implausible moments, well just one that's bothering me really; when Don showed up in the forest, how he and Melinda could have guessed what happened there, or if it was all just coincidental which is a little hard to believe.
The acting did most of the heavy lifting, it's great by the entire cast, which surprised me because at first glance I thought Ben Affleck and maybe de Arma's would be the only standouts. Also expected more chemistry when I first heard of the movie since they were seeing each other at the time, but the relationship they share in the movie is meant to be somewhat emotionless so you can't fault it for that. The whole movie can be pared down to Ben affleck going "sure, you could sleep with my wife if you want to, but then I'd have to kill you."
The movie does have it's shortcomings, it's definitely not as good as it should be but all in all I think it's still alright. I just think when people anticipate a movie to be a 9/10 for instance, and it turns out to actually be a 6 or 7 they get so disappointed and give it lower ratings than it actually deserves because it's not what they expected.
