Hold the Dark

2018 mysterious wolf movie

Rating: 11/20

Plot: After wolves allegedly drag off yet another kid somewhere in Alaska, a guy who wrote a book about wolves is summoned to find the animal. Then a bunch of other things happen in sequential order.

Hold the Dark? This movie should have been called Keep the Viewer in the Dark. Wakka wakka!

I don't mind a little or even a lot of mystery in a movie narrative. But Saulnier seems to be working extra hard to really keep me from understanding what was going on here. I really don't think it's laziness on my part this time. I mean, I have trouble understanding some of the Marvel movies, but that's on me because I get bored early and kind of stop paying attention. That didn't happen here. I got bored with this, but I was actively paying attention.

The plot makes very little sense. It's a series of things that happen in sequential order, but looking at anything closely, it's hard to pinpoint exactly why any of it happened. Saulnier, I'm guessing, is being purposely nebulous, probably because it's artsier that way, but it really kept every single character in this thing at a distance. I've got so many questions about why this character did this or why that character went there or what the hell this mask business was all about or where the hell did that come from, but there was very little in this movie that makes me want to put any thought into any of that.

I'm sure there's some connection being made to humanity and the primitive. It's possible that it's all interesting, but when one character tells another that he needs to "let the wolf out a little" or something, I just rolled my eyes. I'm pretty sure these are themes that were already covered in Teen Wolf Too.

Why does everybody whisper in Alaska? Do they not want the dark to be able to hear them? Jennifer Jason Leigh actually would have been perfect in this movie because she's got that whispery acting down. Saulnier must have told his entire cast to pretend they were Jennifer Jason Leigh.

There are some nifty shots of wolves and the Alaskan wilderness. More emphasis on the importance of place might have helped this out a little, but like the plot, that wasn't fully realized. There's shocking bits of violence in this with shocking bits of people being shot off or people being shockingly stabbed a little bit or getting shocking arrows in their shocking bits. Saulnier isn't shy with the bleeding if that's your bag.