Stray (2019)

Stray: Directed by Joe Sill. With Karen Fukuhara, Christine Woods, Miyavi, Ross Partridge. An orphaned teenager forms an unlikely friendship with a detective. Together they investigate her mother’s murder, and uncover the supernatural force that proves to be a threat to her family.

“I really wanted to check this out because it had an interesting poster, and a plot-line straight out of a killer fantasy paperback. But, god, was this movie a torture sit through. First, I would say that the characters felt almost bland, except the detective, Murphy, whom weu0026#39;re introduced to while she stares at a man making her a tattoo. One would infer that sheu0026#39;s trying to be flirtatious and get some action, but no, the tattooist is just a throwaway character.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJust like every other character that exists in the movie. No one really ever felt that they were in their zone, and crucial time was wasted on nonsense drama of the detective with no connection to the theme or narrative, than introducing the conflict and antagonist soon into the movie. Our secondary heroine, Nori, is also a blank slate of a character with no drive or motivation to get things moving. She mourns, she rests, does magical bullsh*t thatu0026#39;s pretty much unexplained, and runs like a puny chicken with no real purpose.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eComing to the plot, itu0026#39;s one of the most predictable and bland storylines, that Iu0026#39;ve seen on screen. What couldu0026#39;ve been a thrilling supernatural horror drama, ends up being a half-assed attempt at a superhero origin story. The director mustu0026#39;ve watched some Dark, and some superhero films, and some anime, and tried to blend in everything to give us a stale and flavorless product. A premise like this should have excitement and tension, but none of it exists here. All because the characters react in an oblivious manner to any damn interesting supernatural phenomena. Seriously, if Iu0026#39;d seen something remotely anything otherworldly, I would legit freak out for days.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSolid technical values, and interesting music donu0026#39;t help the movie for lift off, since the engine isnu0026#39;t even there. A tighter and earlier sense of character conflict, and tension couldu0026#39;ve help the movie very much.”