Steve Roach

Film makers can't keep doing this to us - involving plot points that just disappear without any mention or resolution later in the film. You might as well go full 'Lost' and chuck a polar bear in there if you're not going to reference it again later! How come such an expensive creative piece involving so many talented people just bends the plot over a barrel and ***** it senseless? SPOILER ALERT! Why was McAvoy's London premises raided? All his tech confiscated? Why were the London police involved in a Scotland case? Why was the Scottish police officer pulled from the case? Why the repeated mentions of Iraq when not relevant? Why was the question about the lack of a room for the boy in the new build house never addressed? Why did the shady new boyfriend suddenly disappear from the film completely (in particular the coda)? All of these are set up and none are answered! It feels like the film was missing a bunch of key scenes. I understand the concept of including 'red herrings' in a mystery film, but this just felt like lazy storytelling. It gets a star for McAvoy's performance, one of his better ones, and another 2 stars for the gorgeous scenery and outdoor cinematography. It's hard to give anything better than (a generous) 3 stars because the film didn't deliver on the promises it made, and with a few script tweaks and additional scenes (even low-budget exposition-filled ones) it could have been a much better film.