Dark Crimes

A hard-boiled detective becomes suspicious of an author whose novel resembles the inner-workings of an unsolved murder.

Director Alexandros Avranas' Dark Crimes is wonderfully framed and is tour de force in lighting and creating a moody atmosphere. Reminiscent of 2016's The Snowman, while well written Jeremy Brock's solemn screenplay is non-eventful. However there are some solid performances, Marton Csokas is on fine form, Carrey is outstanding in this serious brooding role as an investigator who wants to solve a case that he was taken off.

The twist whodunit at the end comes as no surprise, never the less, worth viewing for Carrey's performance alone.

I would've never known about this if it wasn't for RT, and I would've been fine. But at the same time, I don't think it is as terrible as the critics and a lot of people claim it to be - but isn't good either. It is not original or unique. Also, it is not a typical Hollywood cop drama with shootouts and explosions, in fact, it is not a cop drama. It is a psychological crime thriller. That's the best way in which I can describe it. It is dark and filthy. It has a considerable amount of violent "intimate" scenes and some graphic scenes quite similar to that. So, if you find those grose - don't check it out. Speaking of the story, it has one of the most generic "previously prestigious cop due to some recent past events is now living a miserable life with a broken family and wants his prestige back" character played by Jim Carrey. And, a lot of it feels like an adaptation of "Basic Instinct" (1992) rather than some real events it claims to be - with some minor alterations. There is an author who writes erotic stories and is suspected to be the one behind it - but just not what it turns out to be in "Basic Instinct". The scenes, psychological manipulations, etc seem so similar to it - with different interpretations. Whatever they did with Carrey's character is simply the obvious cliché of what happens to a generic character like this in a dark world set up by the movie. The first reveal was predictable - after you know what's going on. And, it was the most obvious thing again. Doesn't make the movie worse, but at the same doesn't make it better. The second reveal was something I didn't really see coming in the way it did. But it feels really too much of a lazy writing and over the top. And, the way Carrey deduces things in the way he does while investigating is also something we've seen a number of different times. I didn't hate the pacing and the way it was going - I thought it was fine. Jim Carrey gives a very nice performance on his part. I loved him in this movie. I have seen his "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "The Mask" and absolutely loved them. And besides these, I might have seen Ace Ventura movies and probably "Bruce Almighty". I don't recall watching him in a role like this and giving a performance like this. But again, I have watched only few of his movies. So, I don't know if he has done a similar role and given a more powerful performance. Sadly, on the whole I found it frustrating. I really wanted to like this movie, but I couldn't.

Score : 4/10

Grade : D+

Label : Okay, okay .... f**k! Nothing there

Disgraced Polish Officer Tadek (Jim Carrey) wants to investigate the murder of a slain policeman to prove himself as he had botched a previous investigation. He is so obsessed with this case that he ignores his family. He finds similarities between the murder and details found in author Krystov Kozlov's (Marton Csokas) novel because the details of the actual murder were never released to the public, but Tadek sees them in the novel. He believes he has his man.

This will be very slow going. In the beginning, we see a lot of nudity when scenes are shown in the sex club that Koslov goes to from time to time. After those scenes we no longer see any frontal nudity. . Talking about a sex club where girls were also tortured would have sufficed, but the Director wanted more. See?

There are very few dialogues throughout especially from Tadek. As Tadek, Carrey uses a Polish accent, but I have heard better as he does it with almost no accent. Not good. And Carrey as Tedak sports a beard that makes him almost unrecognizable. I did wish that Carrey as TAdek spoke more about the case so we knew what he was thinking. Didn't happen too often.

The two main characters alongside Carrey are excellent. There is Charlotte Gainsbourg as Kasia, who is Kozlov's girlfriend; and then there is Marton Csokas as Koslov and he gives off a such commanding presence, I kind of wished he was the good guy.

I have always said that comedians have timing down perfectly when they go into drama. Jim Carrey has that in here. Kudos.

There will be 2-twists later on. The first one almost surprised me, but the last one caught me completely by surprise. Will it surprise you? (7/10)

Violence: No. Sex: Yes. Nudity: Yes. Humor: No. Language: Yes. Rating: B

This movie started off well and Jim Carey does A decent job. But the ending is such a letdown and it feels rushed. It's not terrible but it ain't good either. 5/10

A film that in a blunt and true way shows what the real world is. It's sad but true. The world is not Wonder Woman, the world is brutal, if you are weak then you lose. It annoys me that all reviews of the film criticize the violence against women and the bluntness shown. Why? This story had to be shown just like that. The film is based on facts and these facts were brutal. Why are all reviewers so politically correct today? It limits directors! Hypocrisy is shocking because the same reviewers do not mind violence against men or bad exploitation of men but are obsessed with women. Stop. Stop to see everything through the prism of political correctness.