Movie review: Sweet Girl
There is a point in Sweet Girl, now showing on Netflix, where you know the creators high-fived each other.
A jaw-dropping reveal that would see the action thriller mentioned in the same breath as Planet Of The Apes or The Sixth Sense.
If only. The only breath it joined was a phrase I emitted, which cannot be put in print.
It is a big swing and an immense miss. And one that thinks it is way cleverer than it is and takes an already preposterous film into a truly special realm of stupidity.
To paraphrase Jurassic Park, they were so impressed that they could, they did not stop to think if they should.
I have a lot of time for Jason Momoa. As he proved in Aquaman, in the right role, he has leading man charisma.
Some of this is new territory for him and in the role of grieving husband Ray, Momoa aces the quieter, heartfelt moments - you really feel for the guy.
Isabela Merced as Ray's daughter Rachel is also impressive, often playing Ray's Jiminy Cricket.
But the plot does nobody any favours, sacrificing any connection to the characters for silliness and daft action.
Sweet Girl wants to make a statement on dark practices in American healthcare, but it has none of the subtlety needed to keep things credible.
The makers do not seem sure if Ray should just be a guy who is good with his fists or a Jason Bourne-level specialist.
Outside of Ray and Rachel, everyone is a stock character.
In fact, Justin Bartha's Big Pharma boss does not need lines - he could just twirl a moustache and bellow "Bwahahaha".
The lack of attention to the plot leaves you asking many questions, such as why law enforcement only occasionally remembers that security cameras exist. Or do all pharmaceutical firms have a paramilitary wing? Or how can one of the world's most conspicuous men - Momoa is not dainty - slip by anywhere unnoticed?
Before you get to the twist, which you are likely to clock before it happens, there is an hour-plus of unevenly paced storytelling, interjected with action edited to the point it negates both choreography and impact.
It is frustrating. With a tighter running time and less of a lurch into nonsense, Sweet Girl could have been a great film about a father and daughter on the run with a real point to make.
FILM: Sweet Girl
STARRING: Jason Momoa, Isabela Merced, Justin Bartha, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona
DIRECTOR: Brian Andrew Mendoza
THE SKINNY: Gym owner Ray Cooper (Momoa) finds out that a medicine that can cure his cancer-stricken wife (Arjona) has been taken off the market. Her death sends him on a path of revenge, while trying to protect his daughter (Merced) from forces who want him silenced.
RATING: NC16
SHOWING ON: Netflix
score : 2/5
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