This review contains mild spoilers
I am sure you have seen all the hype surrounding LongLegs, the marketing I have to say has been excellent, reminding me of when Blair Witch Project nailed it in that department back in 1999.
Of course, with the marketing and hype also comes a lot of hyperbole too, I am sure you know what I am talking about, which, as usual, was a load of nonsense, but we all knew it would be, didn't we?
Longlegs is a good film, let me say that straight away, I enjoyed it, but it is also a flawed movie, and even though I do recommend it, I also came out of the theater a tad disappointed as well.
The film follows FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), who possesses some psychic abilities who gets reassigned to a long-running serial killer case trying to catch the Longlegs killer (Nicolas Cage), who seems to be able to manipulate fathers into killing their families before committing suicide themselves, all without being at the scene himself.
Straight away you will notice similarities and nods to the likes of The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, and the film even pays homage to The Exorcist too, but the film never lives up to how good those movies are.
LongLegs Loses Its Way In The Second Half
The first half of the film is where it peaks, and is really interesting and set up incredibly well and I enjoyed the set up of surrounding the killings and mystery regarding it all. How does LongLegs get others to do the killing for him? How does he manipulate people to wipe out families before killing themselves?
Unfortunately, it falls apart slightly in the second half of the move and in particular the third act with a twist that forces the script to explain everything, and explain it quite quickly too.
Once the doll is found under the floorboards in the barn, the interesting plot we did have now switches to the world of satanism and more supernatural elements, and this is when it all starts going downhill with the final third becoming a bit silly and goes in a direction I personally wish it hadn't gone in.
The voiceover part of the movie told us things we already knew but doesn't reveal things we did not know, such as the birthdays and why the 14th? And more about the murders as a whole in terms of what it is meant to accomplish? But maybe I am being thick, it wouldn't be the first time.
I am still not sure how I feel about the ending to LongLegs, either. Part of me liked it and part of me did not, but with the direction the film went in the final half I am more inclined to be a bit more positive regarding that part, and while I do not want to give any big spoilers away, I will say I am not sure it is as ambiguous as it feels.
The hype surrounding Longlegs was always going to set high expectations, which is best ignored, as while it is good, it is not that good as a whole, and currently it is rated as 7.3 on IMDB which I would say is about right.
But lets end this review on a positive note and mention the acting, as Maika Monroe shines as Lee Harker and Alicia Witt is really strong in her scenes. Blair Underwood also turns a potentially clichéd role into a likable character, but most of the film's focus and marketing was on Nicolas Cage and his performance as Longlegs, and he delivers.
He puts in an intense performance that is over-the-top, creepy with a very unsettling nature and he absolutely nails the performance, and even as a secondary character, he leaves a lasting impression on you, that is for sure.
I will re-watch this one again soon, as well.
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