Last year, between the two of us, we watched an average of 317 movies.
This year our goal is to top that by watching at least one a day.
And as an extra special torture, we've decided to write about all of them.

12 September 2008

Monkey Puzzle

Director: Mark Forstmann
Writers: Stephen Davis, Mark Forstmann
Released: 2008
Cast: Ben Geurens, Ryan Johnson, Ella Scott Lynch, Socratis Otto, Billie Rose Pritchard

STEVE says: Yeah, I didn't get it. It started off okay, with four friends - one a secret couple and the other a match-up - heading off into the woods to find the rarest of rare trees. They stop off to buy some weed and end up inadvertently inviting the connection along on their quest. Not the cheeriest of characters, this guy, so tension builds from the outset.

Tempers flare a la The Blair Witch Project sans the supernatural elements, friendships are tested and relationships strained. Then... well, then I don't know what happened, but Monkey Puzzle started to disappoint.

Maybe it's because we were expecting some sort of horror thriller like Welcome to the Jungle, or a man-vs-nature tale like The Ruins, I don't know. What we weren't expecting was a study in existentialism with a fatalistic ending. Not that I'm against studies in existentialism with fatalistic endings (note to self: re-watch Dellamorte Dellamore), but this one kind of snuck up on me.

It wasn't a bad movie by any means. It just wasn't what I was geared up for at the time.

2.5/5