Steve Aust

The movie started slowly and was a little heavy on blue state/red state cliches in the beginning, but got better once the characters were given more life. I never thought much of Ashton Kutcher as an actor until I saw this.

Fraser was incredible, though some of the gorging scenes were a bit gratuitous. The supporting cast was solid, though Sadie Sink could have been given better material. A powerful movie, but harsh at times.

The first 15 minutes of the movie are so frenetic that it gave me a headache and would probably have sent an epileptic into a grand mal seizure. When it took the foot of the gas a bit, it was more enjoyable. Austin Butler captured Elvis' voice and vulnerability well, but, as much as I like Tom Hanks, this wasn't one of his better performances and he hogged the screen too much. Every other character, even Priscilla, felt like filler. The music was four stars, the acting and cinematography two stars, so three it is.

The only reason I'm giving this higher than a one star is because of the educational value. I'd heard that Compton had undergone massive white flight during the 60s, but I'd never have guessed that housing covenants and redlining were so prevalent in Southern California. As for the content itself, psychological horror films need to have the cutting precision of a surgeon's scalpel. Scares measured out a steady cadence. The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, was a perfect example. This script was like cutting with a rusty hacksaw. In a word, artless. Trying to use music, closeups and lighting to set mood rather than with good dialogue is a ham-handed way to advance the plot. The actions by the antagonists were too over the top and overt to be believable. The mustard-gas color change and screaming scene was like a third-rate Kubrick ripoff. More cunning and diabolical actions by Betty and her acolytes would have been more credible. And, yes the staring-neighbor-on-the-lawn pose was way overdone.