Night Moves (2013)

Night Moves centres around three radical environmentalists who team up for a controversial mission to blow up a hydroelectric dam. However, none of them could have anticipated the fatal consequences their actions would bring.

Overall Review Score

0.5 out of 10

Review

Night Moves is meant to be a 2009 drama that sees three radical environmentalists become eco-terrorists by blowing up a dam only for the group to split and pretend nothing has happened, even though an innocent camper was killed in the explosion. However, in reality, this concept never comes across to the audience. Instead, the audience is treated to a 109-minute film that has limited dialogue, limited character interactions, and a lot of driving, farming and camping scenes. Despite Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard and Dakota Fanning being good actors and delivering exceptional performances in other films, in Night Moves they deliver sub-part performances in monotone voices that make their characters feel one-dimensional that fail to convey their motivates or feelings to the audience. This is further enhanced by its lack of dialogue coupled with a confusing script, seemingly played out in a haphazard manner, which causing the film to quickly alienate the audience. Overall, Night Moves is a film that could have been exceptional, as it had all the right ingredients including good actors, a semi-decent plot and twists and turns required of a thriller, but it simply failed to work.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 0 out of 10

Comments:

Night Moves could have been a compelling dramatic thriller that subtly outlined environmental travesties caused by multinational corporations, and the overarching dangers this pose to the planet. In reality, this is rammed down the throat of the audience during what feels like most of the scenes, which caused me to lose interest in the film about 20 minutes in. Further to this, Night Moves never really outlines why the three radical activists want to blow up the hydroelectric dam. Finally yet importantly, the main cast, Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard, and Dakota Fanning, all deliver lifeless performances, which really spoils what could have been a somewhat decent film.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 1 out of 10

Comments:

I am not sure what to say about Night Moves because after watching the film, I am non-the-wiser as to its plot or equally why the Director, Kelly Reichardt, decided to end the film on anti-climatic point. The majority of the film sees Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning), and Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) undertake actions with limited dialogue leaving the audience struggling to make sense of the action unfolding. Once it becomes clear that Josh, Dena, and Harmon are eco-terrorist the audience are left wondering why they choose to blow up a dam, how Josh knew Harmon, and equally what they were hoping to achieve with their actions. Overall, Night Moves is less of a thrilling drama and more of a haphazard film that bumbles around in the night before integrating, in a painful and slow, into nothingness. Due to the fact I found its 109-minute run time extremely boring and I struggled to understand the motivations of the characters or what they were trying to achieve, I would seriously recommend avoiding this film.

#jesseeisenberg #petersarsgaard #dakotafanning #drama #thriller