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The Voices

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the voicesDirector:Marjane Satrapi

Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Anna Kendrick and Gemma Arteton

Released: Friday 20th March 2015 (UK)

Who loves Ryan Reynolds? Who loves comedy? Who loves a genuine horror? Well you’re in luck. The Voices, no, not The Voice, is a movie which flirts with all these genres, but does it work?

Jerry(Ryan Reynolds) is an upbeat dude with a happy go lucky view of the world. He’s also mentally ill, and has been avoiding taking his prescribed anti-psychotic medication. He hallucinates that his cat(Ryan Reynolds) is telling him to be a serial killer, while his dog(Ryan Reynolds) argues against the cat and insists that he is good. That’s right Ryan Reynolds is half the cast. At times this is the best part of The Voices, unfortunately it’s never played up to its full potential. Mr. Whiskers is a great antagonistic element but he’s never shocking, he should be this over the top monster but instead he sounds like a neutered James McAvoy out of Filth. The humour is also underplayed in a big way, The Voices has a few chuckles but nothing laugh out loud. The ending was laughable, but I’ll get to that later.

What sells The Voices to me, for the most part, is its cast and the cinematography. The scenes are so well structured, in particular the scenes when Jerry gets back on his meds. There is such a powerful realisation for both Jerry and the audience that Jerry is not in a good place when he’s not on his medication. It’s chilling, it shows off the best of the cinematography of The Voices and it shows how great Ryan Reynolds is. Like I said previously, the cast is also great in The Voices, Gemma Aterton, Anna Kendrick and Ryan Reynolds give great performances. Kendrick and Reynolds have an adorable connection that blossoms throughout the movie which is tinged with a tense edge because you don’t know whether Reynolds will flip or not. Now for the most part I enjoyed this movie, the characters were interesting, the cinematography was atmospheric and the story at times was emotional and well paced. Then the final twenty minutes hit and I was getting bored, and worried. How was this going to end. where is Jerry going to go as a character? These were questions going through my head, and then it ended, then that credits scene happened and I was so annoyed. After setting up this surreal world with real world roots The Voices at the very end, at the last hurtle, tripped and lost me.

With an interesting premise, an eclectic cast of characters and an atmospheric setting, The Voices could have been something great. Sadly it doesn’t push for anything completely original. It plays it safe and gives us the psychopath colour by numbers story. Factor in an ending that comes out of nowhere and no element being raised above interesting, The Voices is American Psycho with a duller edge.

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