Guillermo del Toro made one of my favorite movies of all time, so naturally I was very excited to see his efforts adapting a very good noir film that explores the realistic horrors of human greed and deceit as opposed to the supernatural ghosts and fairytale monsters that we’ve come to associate with his work. 

Unfortunately, his new Nightmare Alley was a significant disappointment for me on nearly every level. The screenplay manages to overcomplicate the fairly simple narrative by playing every beat longer than necessary, leaving us with an overlong first two acts that give over to a slightly improved finale that finally catches some dramatic momentum in a story that is otherwise desperate for some tension through stakes. The adaptation adds little to the original story while underplaying (or downright omitting) many of the best moments from the original film. 

A true star vehicle, the film largely feels lethargic due to a muted performance from Bradley Cooper that fails to engage to the level the long sequences with him call for. The supporting cast is more enjoyable, with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara standing out as the only two other characters with a major presence. 

There remains some spectacle in the visuals, cinematic in flair even if mostly empty in storytelling. The craft is what you get from the trailers, with most of the more athletic pieces of cinematography and impressive scenic designs (and almost every moment of action) already shown to us. Losing Alexandre Desplat probably hurt, as the score often worked against the visuals. It felt like del Toro was so concerned about making something that would be cinematically revered that by avoiding emotional manipulation, his film fails to be any fun. His flat direction saddens me the most.

In a year where so many of my favorite filmmakers have released new work (Sean Baker, Wes Anderson, Céline Sciamma, etc), almost all have left me wondering exactly where their early magic has gone. Maybe there’s something in the water. Maybe I’m just getting older and finally recognizing a distance between the films that made me and the ever changing landscape of cinema. Maybe it’s just a strange year.  

This man lit my imagination on fire when I saw Pan’s Labyrinth. Maybe he’ll never do that again, but maybe he shouldn’t need to.