Very much this. I think the root idea was a good one. And I'm glad he veered off from just a reboot (even though in this case I'm sure it would have ultimately been preferable)
I actually quite like the idea of the
WARNING: spoilers below
fugue, a melody that overlaps with itself. So we see large stretches of the film, then see it again with new understanding. As soon as she started drinking the kombucha, I was like "Oh, THAT'S why she leaned against that wall earlier!" It was a satisfying moment.
Unfortunately, the way that the film is structured (and the TIME it takes setting up and then executing that structure) did not yield nearly enough rewards to be worth it.
It really doesn't help that
WARNING: spoilers below
the murder victim is a total goober. Someone who we have learned sold iffy supplements to underage kids, rants against feminism, and is willing to overlook a murder just to boost his YouTube numbers.
I'm not fundamentally opposed to a murder victim being an unlikable character. At this point it's a very established trope. But to have no one else be likeable--bar a single character--simply did not work for me.
I would have loved if this film had gone the whole Murder on the Orient Express route and fleshed out the characters via their relationship to the victim. But in the end they are all just selfish and dumb.
And the worst part is that the REAL mystery (who killed Andi) gets like 12 real minutes of screentime.
I'm not fundamentally opposed to a murder victim being an unlikable character. At this point it's a very established trope. But to have no one else be likeable--bar a single character--simply did not work for me.
I would have loved if this film had gone the whole Murder on the Orient Express route and fleshed out the characters via their relationship to the victim. But in the end they are all just selfish and dumb.
And the worst part is that the REAL mystery (who killed Andi) gets like 12 real minutes of screentime.