Charlize Theron’s forgotten R-rated thriller on Netflix explores a twisted past
Author: Robert Skuch Published
Around the time Charlize Theron was transitioning from a big studio project (a movie called Mad Max: Fury Road) and turned to smaller, more restrained films, she took on the 2015 crime thriller dark place. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name and fully committed to its mystery, dark place It was all but forgotten upon its release, grossing just over $5 million at the box office against a reported production budget of $11.9 million. To make matters worse, the film was a critical flop, dropping to a 23% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and not much better at 33% on the Popcorn Meter.
While I don’t necessarily agree with such a harsh assessment, dark place It’s a difficult watch because it’s trying to do too many things at once. This is one of those situations where the timeline it explores fits better on the page than the screen. What’s supposed to be a present-day mystery about a decades-old horror becomes a narrative mess, which is frustrating because the script itself is solid, the acting is even better, and the individual components mostly work. The problem is how these components collide.
Defined by trauma, driven by money
dark place’ The present-day suspense story centers on Libby Day (Charlize Theron), the sole survivor of a family massacre when she was just 8 years old, played in flashback by Sterling Jerlins. Her brother Ben (Corey Stoll) was charged with the crime and is currently serving a life sentence. Ben insists Libby never knew the whole story when he was a teenager (played by Tye Sheridan), and that there were other suspects who were never properly considered.
Now, Libby’s family has been murdered and her family is infamous, and she survives on donations. As the years passed and public interest waned, the money dried up, creating a financial strain that not even the books she ghostwritten could alleviate. When Lyle Voss (Nicholas Hoult) approaches Libby and invites her to speak at his true crime club, she agrees, but only if she’s paid. Impacted by trauma and driven by survival, Libby sees this as a necessary move to stay alive. That calculation quickly changes once she realizes what Lyle is really after.
While Lyle does run a true crime club, it operates on two distinct levels. The lower level is for casual enthusiasts, while the upper level is for those who spend their spare time actively solving cold cases. Lyle believed Ben might have been innocent, but Libby’s childhood testimony was enough to convict him convincingly. As far as Libby remembered, she was telling the truth. Still, she’s forced to confront the idea that memories formed under extreme trauma may not be as reliable as she once believed.
Libby, who initially showed up purely for the money, later agreed to visit her brother in prison to hear his version of events. That conversation leads her down a trail of half-buried truth, bringing her closer to the possibility that someone else murdered her family and Ben took the blame.
Two-tier structure kills momentum
On paper, dark place There is a striking setting. An estranged brother and sister work towards the same goal after years of separation, each with their own version of the truth. Libby’s testimony lands Ben in jail, and even though she’s just a child and every piece of evidence at the time points directly to him, the tension builds. Ben has either accepted his fate or is playing a long game that even Lyle and his team of amateur sleuths can’t quite see.
Alternating with the present story is a second story set in 1985, leading up to the night of the murder. These scenes are drip-fed and designed to ultimately clash with present-day revelations. It’s a powerful idea in concept, but becomes unwieldy in execution. As the movie goes on, the audience can slowly piece things together, but by the time dark place By the time you reach the midpoint, if you’re familiar with the genre, most of the major cards are already on the table.
dark place Relying heavily on well-worn tropes, it, to its credit, executes them competently. The downside to this level of reliability is that the story structure follows a painfully familiar logic, which lessens the impact of the mystery. The dual narrative aims to heighten the tension but undercuts its own revelation. Although I wouldn’t argue that dark place Well-deserved of the critical acclaim it’s received so far, it’s easy to see why it left so many viewers underwhelmed. All the ingredients for a gripping thriller are present, they just never come together in a satisfying way.
Just in terms of its performance and core concepts, dark place Worth a look. But if you’re hoping to see a mystery that really captivates you, this might not be the right choice.
dark place Now streaming on Netflix.
