Before I went into this movie, I had a basic idea of the tone that Brett Haley would be going for. The audience around me was older, which is seemingly Haley's target audience. Based on my previous viewing of I'll See You In My Dreams at SIFF 2015, I expected something similar. Just as I'll See You In My Dreams nearly invoked me into a trance, The Hero is an equally draggy and inactive film. This film would play better in a nursing home than it would on the big screen.
The film has a star-studded cast, but never takes off. The only exciting part of this film is the pleasure of listening to Sam Elliott's (Hulk, Up in the Air) voice for an hour and a half. The cast is not bad, but the writing is just so-so. There are a few chuckles here and there, but nothing too clever pops up. The subject matter is deep and clearly relatable for older actors, but I never felt the connection to Elliott's character that I should have. There is only one or two emotional scenes in the film, which had the potential of being a tearjerker. Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones, Breaking Bad), Laura Prepon (The Girl on the Train, Orange is the New Black), and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, The Founder) do a decent job in their respective roles, but feel interchangeable. Any actors in similar age groups could have portrayed these characters.
Another problem that I had with the film was the dull color palette. Haley basically replicates the palette from his previous work, sacrificing creativity for reality. If the color palette were a bit more exciting, my eyelids wouldn't have felt so heavy. At times, flashbacks try to bring the audience into the perspective of Elliott's character. Yet, these deeply symbolic flashbacks are vague and uninteresting. The symbolism is easy to figure out, mostly involving aging and death. It feels as if this film has been made too many times before.
The Bottom Line: The film subject and slow story drags down the acting abilities that Sam Elliott fans have become accustomed to.
Score: 6/10
The film has a star-studded cast, but never takes off. The only exciting part of this film is the pleasure of listening to Sam Elliott's (Hulk, Up in the Air) voice for an hour and a half. The cast is not bad, but the writing is just so-so. There are a few chuckles here and there, but nothing too clever pops up. The subject matter is deep and clearly relatable for older actors, but I never felt the connection to Elliott's character that I should have. There is only one or two emotional scenes in the film, which had the potential of being a tearjerker. Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones, Breaking Bad), Laura Prepon (The Girl on the Train, Orange is the New Black), and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, The Founder) do a decent job in their respective roles, but feel interchangeable. Any actors in similar age groups could have portrayed these characters.
Another problem that I had with the film was the dull color palette. Haley basically replicates the palette from his previous work, sacrificing creativity for reality. If the color palette were a bit more exciting, my eyelids wouldn't have felt so heavy. At times, flashbacks try to bring the audience into the perspective of Elliott's character. Yet, these deeply symbolic flashbacks are vague and uninteresting. The symbolism is easy to figure out, mostly involving aging and death. It feels as if this film has been made too many times before.
The Bottom Line: The film subject and slow story drags down the acting abilities that Sam Elliott fans have become accustomed to.
Score: 6/10
