Glad I gave this movie a second chance based on some pushing from my friends. I don't recall the circumstances of my first viewing, but I only got about ten minutes in and promptly turned it off: not because it was BAD but because it wasn't the movie I needed at the time. Truth be told there was probably a game that I was obsessed with at the time.
Fast forward a few years and I'm seeing Duncan Jones in the news more often and my friends are incredulous that I haven't seen this film while I go on about loving Moon. Questioning my own reality in which I fervently enjoy a film while simultaneously ignoring the talented names behind, I miss quite a few connections. Taylor Sheridan is another such victim, as I remained clueless that the writer of my beloved Sicario was behind the masterpiece of Hell or High Water.
Regardless, I'm more disciplined now - especially with the help of Letterboxd. I queued up the 4K version of the film, drew up some popcorn and put up my feet with a cat on my lap to watch Jake Gyllenhaal straddle the line between wooing Michelle Monaghan and saving the city through means of quantum tomfoolery. It was a ton of fun.
Being slightly afraid of a needlessly serious version of Groundhog Day, I was pleasantly surprised as Jones continued to peel back interesting layers of sci-fi goodness as the film went on. I can't knock the "cheesy" ending, as I audibly smiled with puzzle-precision satisfaction to my cats as it came about. The repeating eight minutes is broken up with and smartly played out on the inclusion of - what I'll call - the control room scenes with Vera Farmiga (whom I've fallen in love with since The Conjuring and Bates Motel) and Jeffrey Wright (whose over-the-glasses look is hypnotizing).
It gets a relatively high score of four stars upon first viewing, although it feels doubtful that it can climb higher with repeated viewings.
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