Regression (2016)

Really Surprised!

A Disappointing Continuation

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It was amazing! This movie was portrayed beautifully and it had so much tension and such good acting What I didn't really expect was the plot twist!!!! I was just pranked??? And that was great too because people don't expect many cases like that to go south, especially in a horror/thriller film. The ending also shocked me, for the main character to just not suffer that horribly in the end is very rare in these types of movies.

Starring: Ethan Hawke and Emma WatsonReview: Regression started off like a pretty good movie. It had a dark, ominous tone. I like Ethan Hawke as an actor. Emma Watson is pretty hot. It seemed like it was going to be a solid movie about questioning one's faith, the brutality of man, and the intricacies of the human mind. It had all the makings of a good movie, but it wasn't one. There were some good parts. The revelations at the beginning were intense and the weird satanic visions that haunted Ethan Hawke were pretty creepy and built suspense. Overall, it was pretty predictable, though. In the age of plot twists, it's pretty common for people to try and guess what it is. Filmmakers don't usually stray too far from my first guess so it's kind of hard to be surprised. Regression's "plot twist" was obvious from a mile away, though. It would have done well as a horror movie if it had stuck with those elements, but that's not what type of movie it was. Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson's talents were wasted on this movie just like Ethan and Selena Gomez's were wasted on Getaway (literally the worst movie I have ever seen).What I Would Have Changed: I would have scrapped the psychological aspect of the movie along with the "twist" and made it a straight up horror movie about a cop helping a girl who's been abused by a satanic cult. Those were the parts of the movie that made it interesting. The ending pretty much negated all of that.Verdict: I wouldn't watch it again. If you haven't seen it but want to, I'd recommend waiting until it airs on TV to watch it. Or get somebody to rent it from Redbox for you.Follow me: @KallMeKarter

First of all, this movie was too jumbled to sink your teeth into. There was no depth. It was hard to keep track of the characters and what they did or didn't do because none of them had any screen time worth mentioning except for Ethan Hawke and, to some extent, the psychiatrist. At no time did the film draw me in.**SPOILER ALERT**The crappy ending was a neat little summation that you might have missed if you blinked. I was like, are you freaking kidding me?!Even if a young woman wanted to seek revenge on her family for her lackluster upbringing (which is a weak premise in itself), what about all of the people who, independent from her, had corroborating memories? Her father was in real anguish over his memories of satanic abuse, which not only matched the girl's brother's details and traumatic emotion, but both she and her father named the same abuser, unbeknownst to the other. He was willing to go to prison for life, possibly get the death penalty, for feeling guilty because he wasn't Father Knows Best...? Seriously?! Meanwhile, the crazy grandmother is also harboring the same satanic delusions as the others in the family... and yet... nobody ever actually experienced ANY of it!The detective has some pretty vivid nightmares, to the point of thinking they may actually have happened. He puts a gun under his pillow. And one day, a couple of his fellow officers come to beat the hell out of, or kill him – in black robes, no less! – and he's like "I understand why you're upset with me, so I won't report this". Gimme a break!The worst thing about this movie though, which I find wholly irresponsible and unforgivable, is that the point of the film is a declaration that satanic abuse never happens – it's all in the minds of delusional people! OH. MY. GOD.! Way to dismiss the agony and suffering of the thousands of people who have been victimized by actual, non-imaginary satanic cults which DO, in fact, exist! It is a large network of organized rings around the world.... which certainly makes me wonder about the motive of the people who created this piece of deleterious propaganda...

There are a lot of excellent Spanish directors; however only Almoodovar and Amenabar are very well known abroad. And sadly they made great movies long ago but their latest efforts are really badly directed and even worse scripted.After getting Tom Cruise to remade his second movie (Open your eyes) and winning an Oscar for his third (The Sea Inside), Amenabar made an over-produced, and later financial failure called AGORA.The movie blamed the rising Christian faith as the barbarians who destroyed the Alexandria library and its documents and knowledge without any historic accuracy. Some people considered the movie offensive; but it was just a poorly directed, mediocre script whose only goal seemed to be to create controversy.Regression (after an hiatus of a few years) is perhaps more of the same. It is difficult to understand if Amenabar is attacking one more time the Christian faith, psychoanalysis or people stupidity. *** SPOILER FOLLOWS **** Based on real events (which does not necessary means what the movie tells is completely true) it tells the story of a police detective that investigating a possible child molesting case; turn things in a satanic cult stuff, creating a media big mess; to find out later that everything was product of a quite hysterical young women.***END OF SPOILER *****Nothing in the move makes a lot of sense; people believe things without any real proof; everybody (including the "smart" city detective) becomes obsessed almost immediately; but it happens so fast and without any logical reason that is impossible to believeEthan Hawk makes a big effort to with his character (frankly, never trust his character with any investigation) and Emma Watson surprises with her dual personality character. The rest of the cast does whatever they can; but no magic can be done with an script without any proper progression that keeps asking to accept the absurd of a situation.In brief; avoid it !!!