March 24, 2012

The Woman in Black (2012)

I have to admit that I’m not a massive fan of Daniel Radcliffe. I have never seen a Harry Potter film so my opinion isn’t the most soundly based one. I just see him and don’t believe him to be a very good actor. However I was prepared to watch this film because it’s a Hammer film and it’s nice to see that British film brand alive and well. It’s clear why they have chosen Radcliffe because with him come all those teenage girls that like him for some strange reason. I was hoping that I would be proven wrong when watching this film which see’s Radcliffe character arrive at this house which has some mysterious person lurking around. There are plenty of frights over the course of this film and there were several moments where I was impressed. It’s very well directed, the house and the grounds are as creepy as anything and the cast is impressive however I just cant get past Daniel Radcliffe. I don’t believe him as an actor and whenever he was talking I just didn’t really care but when he was trying to look like he was holding himself together I was more interested.

Ciaran Hinds is very good in this and at times out performs Radcliffe. It’s a shame that he disappears for a portion of the movie however when he does return its when the film really starts to get going. I thought that all the villagers were a tiny bit odd and fitted into the film perfectly. I couldn’t quite buy the fact that Radcliffe’s character had a child and it did make me laugh as I thought at the beginning that the boy was out performing Radciffe. There were two moments when I thought that someone had been watching Doctor Who because the moment when Radcliffe rips the wallpaper off the wall is from the 2007 episode ‘Blink’ and the bit where the corridors go dark is from the 2008 adventure ‘Silence in the Library’. I thought that the ending was very bizarre. It was a happy ending of sorts and did come out of the blue. I honestly thought that Radcliffe’s character was going to live in the house and was mildly disappointed when he was going to head back home but when the boy went onto the tracks you knew it was going to have a bleak ending but then as they walked off with the dead mother it seemed a more fitting ending.

The Woman in Black isn’t a scary film by any means but it’s a fun enough and there were moments when Daniel Radcliffe is perfectly good to watch but I think that there are more scary films out there and for someone who is a bit of a wuss as far as scary films are concerned I was a tiny bit disappointed.

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