Terminal

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If you want an example of your typical style-over-substance Tarantino clone, then look no further than Terminal. I’m serious. All of those trademarks are there. The movie has a non-linear style for storytelling. The movie tries to have this witty dialogue. But, the man who wrote and directed this movie is not Quentin Tarantino. The man doesn’t really show any knowledge of how cleverly or correctly work with non-linear storytelling. When you watch a Quentin Tarantino movie, you can actually make out the overall story (or stories) that his movies offer. Part of it could be that a Tarantino movie actually has a plot to it. I’m legitimately convinced that Terminal doesn’t even have that. I think director Vaughn Stein thinks this movie is more intelligent than it actually is. The man uses weird wide angle lens shots just for the sake of using them. He draws allusions to the works of Lewis Carroll. Characters in the film read his books. The movie opens with a quote by the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. They even allude to characters going down the “rabbit hole.” I wouldn’t have an issue with this if the film knew how to make these allusions and references work within the context of the film. The closest thing you get to an explanation is a character in the movie saying something along the lines of: “it’s my favorite book.” As far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t mean anything. A character can reference Shakespeare throughout a film’s running, and just say “Hamlet’s my favorite play. That doesn’t automatically make it important. There are twists and turns littered throughout this movie. I can’t necessarily say that they were predictable, and I will give the movie points for that. The problem is: the movie isn’t engaging enough for me to really care. Is this one of the worst movies of the year? No. It really isn’t. There’s actually some stuff about it that I really like. For example, the performances in the film are really good. Actors like Mike Myers and Simon Pegg get to play against type in certain ways (without giving too much away). The movie’s true MVP is Margot Robbie. Honestly, this woman seems to elevate the subpar material she has to work with. The moments I truly felt this movie come alive (and the moments I found myself somewhat invested in) were the scenes between Robbie and Simon Pegg. The two have really good chemistry with one another, and I kind of wish the entire movie was the scenes between the two of them. Terminal certainly isn’t an awful film, but it is most definitely not a good film either. 

5 / 10