I walked into this movie knowing little to nothing other than Brandon Cronenberg was at the helm, and Mia Goth was staring. I heard it was artsy, and "disturbing" but that should've meant it was right up my alley. What I found out was that, while the film's acting + visuals + base story concept were good....it just felt a little underwhelming.
Let's start with what was good. Like I said, the acting is pretty good from the two main leads. Mia Goth goes over the top, and Alexander Skarsgard goes more realistic and human, which is a good contrast. Visuals are pretty good, same with the sound. The story has a premise that will get you interested in the first 30 minutes, dealing with a rich resort and a local government that loves to clone. However, this is where it has problems.
The story and characters are its biggest problem. They're not bad per se, but they are not are par with the rest of the film. I feel like the cronenbergs always have great ideas, but cannot execute on the characters and fleshing out of the story. You don't relate to the main character "James" all that much. I can sympathise with him, and I kinda liked him but it just wasn't enough. Same with Mia Goth, you never see why the way she is other than maybe inferences (stuff that would spoil the movie). It just needed a special something in the story department to top it off, but we don't get that.
If you like these types of experimental and artsy movies, then I would recommend giving it a shot (you love it). However, if you're more of a casual movie goer, you can probably skip. Unless you wanna pop a couple edibles and have a very weird night. However, Avatar or Puss in Boots would probably give you a better experience in that department.