← Back to Reviews
in
I Kill Giants, 2017
Barbara (Madison Wolfe) lives in a vividly imaginative world of monsters, harbingers, and giants. Under the care of her older sister, Karen (Imogen Poots), Barbara struggles mightily at school, socially isolated and fending off bullies. Barbara makes a new friend in Sophia (Sydney Wade) and begins sessions with a sympathetic school therapist (Zoe Saldana), but neither of these things seem to slow an increasing agitation and mental health crisis in Barbara's life.
This one has been on my watchlist for quite a while, and seeing it reviewed was a good boost to actually watch it.
As I referenced in my earlier post, this film falls very much into the territory of A Monster Calls. Now having watched it, those overlaps are pretty extensive, and I think that I Kill Giants suffers a bit in comparing the two, because I just think that A Monster Calls handles quite a few elements better.
Wolfe is good in the lead role as Barbara. All of the acting is solid. One thing that I appreciated about the movie was that it seemed willing to acknowledge what Barbara was going through as being incredibly unhealthy, mentally and emotionally. Barbara is deliberately provocative, sometimes cruel, moody, and even violent. As much as you are on her side, I like that we see how bad this is all getting. At the same time, the movie can't resist giving Barbara some of those movie trope child attributes, like always having a glib, cutting remark on hand to deal with her teachers or peers.
There's also a lot of fun to be had visually. Under Barbara's imaginative eye, different landscapes reveal large, menacing creatures. She uses various implements and materials to create traps for these creatures, determined to save everyone from the destruction of the giants.
My main issues are with how it all wraps up in the final act. Again, I can't help but compare with A Monster Calls, which covered a lot of the same ground. (It should be said, however, that what bothers the protagonists of the two films is actually significantly different). I thought that the ending was a bit overly neat:
I also found myself wishing that they hadn't spent so much energy
A good piece of middle-grade fantasy fiction, but it suffers from comparison to a similar film.
I Kill Giants, 2017
Barbara (Madison Wolfe) lives in a vividly imaginative world of monsters, harbingers, and giants. Under the care of her older sister, Karen (Imogen Poots), Barbara struggles mightily at school, socially isolated and fending off bullies. Barbara makes a new friend in Sophia (Sydney Wade) and begins sessions with a sympathetic school therapist (Zoe Saldana), but neither of these things seem to slow an increasing agitation and mental health crisis in Barbara's life.
This one has been on my watchlist for quite a while, and seeing it reviewed was a good boost to actually watch it.
As I referenced in my earlier post, this film falls very much into the territory of A Monster Calls. Now having watched it, those overlaps are pretty extensive, and I think that I Kill Giants suffers a bit in comparing the two, because I just think that A Monster Calls handles quite a few elements better.
Wolfe is good in the lead role as Barbara. All of the acting is solid. One thing that I appreciated about the movie was that it seemed willing to acknowledge what Barbara was going through as being incredibly unhealthy, mentally and emotionally. Barbara is deliberately provocative, sometimes cruel, moody, and even violent. As much as you are on her side, I like that we see how bad this is all getting. At the same time, the movie can't resist giving Barbara some of those movie trope child attributes, like always having a glib, cutting remark on hand to deal with her teachers or peers.
There's also a lot of fun to be had visually. Under Barbara's imaginative eye, different landscapes reveal large, menacing creatures. She uses various implements and materials to create traps for these creatures, determined to save everyone from the destruction of the giants.
My main issues are with how it all wraps up in the final act. Again, I can't help but compare with A Monster Calls, which covered a lot of the same ground. (It should be said, however, that what bothers the protagonists of the two films is actually significantly different). I thought that the ending was a bit overly neat:
WARNING: spoilers below
basically she has an epiphany and then she's fine? And what is basically a serious presentation of anxiety, depression, OCD, and anger just dissipates? It felt like it came together a bit too nice and clean---which includes dropping the subplot about Barbara's classmate who is a bully but also maybe dealing with some serious mental health problems?
I also found myself wishing that they hadn't spent so much energy
WARNING: spoilers below
concealing that the mother was still alive but terminally ill. Why keep that hidden? It also, in retrospect, makes it seem super weird that she and her siblings never mention the mom?! Like, I know they did the thing where when someone mentions the mom, noise crowds it out, but come on.
A good piece of middle-grade fantasy fiction, but it suffers from comparison to a similar film.