Jeffrey LeBlanc

Brilliant writing, great acting, and great atmosphere! What more do you want?!

Anyone that says this show is riveting or a thriller is a liar. Or cashing the check like Stephen King did on this one. First, poor atmosphere. I’ve seen paint store commercials that were more gripping. It started without quintessential elements you expect in a King horror movie—darkness, fog, maybe a building foreboding, some legend or mythos, or a crow for goodness sakes. Second, no character development. I mean they never go into any substantial details of the characters. It’s a shame because at least some of the characters, mainly the villains, had a lot more depth in the book. And looking at the floor brooding isn’t cutting it as a burnt out detective. The family losing their child had all the depth of an after school special. Wait...strike that. The after school special had better actors. Finally, no humor and no depth of emotion by anyone in this cast. Without these you really are just connecting points to an ending without any teeth. And one more rant. I have no problem with minorities acting in roles. But I’d rather see a great actor placed in a great role regardless of race, gender, or whatever. Throwing a person into a role based on race, gender, or again on whatever agenda is just bad entertainment and undermines the best elements of any story or actor. “The Outsider” as a book had a cool concept but executed it poorly in the second half. We won’t even talk about an ending that caused me to quit reading Stephen King because I feel his best writing days are behind him. And that’s okay. He’s had a hell of a career.

When you fail to build a logical plot and characters, as is the case with this movie, then no amount of CGI can create the dread or horror needed to entertain an audience. What’s so disappointing is there were elements for a great story. Instead the film went for a quick buck without a strong edit. Next time re-check the plot points, perform actual character arcs, and create real terror.

First it had a weak script. There is absolutely no character development, no transitional flow in the character conflicts, and pretty much it relies too heavily on CGI rather than tell a good story. Building a mythos or atmosphere of dread was vacant as well. And let’s face it, there were horrible attempts at comedy that felt forced. Dread, comedy, and horror with great characters. These were all elements of Predator (Original). This social justice warrior diatribe, putting a child protagonist and a really bad actress in the kick-butt researcher role, with a group of poorly developed characters torched all hope this would be enjoyable. Shane Black needs to retire.