Diego Crespo’s review published on Letterboxd:
Despite all evidence to the contrary, it turns out this is, in fact, a good movie. All the criticisms of the actual moment-to-moment camera direction and musical staging are completely justified. Double those negatives and lob that toward the color and flat lighting. But god damn it, the material and cast are so strong that the criticisms never hold me back from enjoying it. This is Jon Chu’s best movie. A low bar to be sure, but a quality one and I’ll be there for part 2.
- Cynthia Erivo has given consistently some of the best performances of the year so I actually expected a little more from her here. At least until “Defying Gravity” kicks in. As great a moment as you heard. Kind of left me on a high if I’m being honest lmao.
- okay look the movie is definitely too long. It just is. But splitting it into the two acts with THAT number? Alright, you won me over. You should have heard my audience. They were ready to watch Part 2 right fucking now. I saw this on a Wednesday in my local theater surrounded by residential/suburb areas. That doesn’t happen.
- Shiz lol.
- Costumes and set design is out of this world good. Bummer it is clearly limited by director and dp just letting it down. It reminds me of SNAKE EYES funnily enough (the GI JOE spinoff, not De Palma’s banger) where *everything* was exactly right for this production… except the person in charge of it. But he still got the actors where they (mostly) needed to be.
- Ariana Grande Best Actress. I’ve always been a fan but I did *not* know she had that in her.
- I don’t think I’d seen Jonathan Bailey in anything before but holy cow what a leading man. Off the charts charisma and magnetic swagger. Give him an action movie! This is obviously not the most important take away but my brain is beer & cheeseburger-pilled.
- Minor note of snark with necessary criticism: I promise telling critics “No, we made it less colorful and overly backlit on purpose!” doesn’t actually make you look any better at your job. That’s worse. You get how that’s worse, etc.
I genuinely hope I enjoy Act 2 anywhere near as much as this.
Diego liked these reviews
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