Dark Crimes had some potential and as a fan of these procedural murder-mysteries, this should’ve been right in my wheelhouse, but instead we get a dry and at times dull story with poor pacing; outside of Jim Carrey’s devoted performance, this is not something I could recommend.
Dark Crimes
(2018)
Genre(s): Crime, Drama, Suspense/Thriller
Lionsgate | R – 93 min. – $21.99 | July 31, 2018
Date Published: 07/30/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2.0/5 |
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Jim Carrey might primarily be known for his comedic roles, but he has shined in the more dramatic parts as well, movies like The Truman Show (balanced both comedy and drama really nicely), The Majestic and The Number 23, the latter probably most resembling his latest, Dark Crimes, however from my memory, I probably liked that one more… This is one of those “inspired by actual events” and also based on a magazine article, but likely took plenty of creative license and perhaps only has a sliver of the real life incident. The story itself focuses on Toronto Detective Todek (JIM CARREY) whose career and reputation has taken a hit and in an attempt to get it back, and also get back at an adversary turned police chief, takes on a case of a murdered man dredged out of water.
Todek’s investigation takes him down a dark path involving sex/torture clubs and a prime suspect named Kozlow (MARTON CSOKAS), a renowned and twisted book author who, in an audio recording of his newest novel, precisely describes the bindings of the victim. From there, it’s a bit of a cat and mouse game along with Todek dealing with conflicts within the police force and at home. Dark Crimes is a film that tried so hard to provide deep and dark atmosphere and miserably failed on nearly all aspects. I say nearly because at the very least Jim Carrey does give a dedicated performance, even if his French-Canadian accent was a bit jarring and admittedly, sometimes difficult to understand. Even so, Carrey might be the only reason the film is even worth sitting through. In terms of the actual story, in and of itself, it’s not at all bad, though with the government corruption aspects and the personal storyline with Todek, this might’ve worked better as a mini-series rather than condensed to a 90-minute running time.
The film was directed by Alexandros Avranas, marking only his third feature-length film and his first in the English-language. I understand what he was after and on the surface, Dark Crimes could have been a haunting film but instead the screenplay was not the best and the performances were uneven, although Carrey did give it his best shot, unfortunately it wasn’t nearly enough to surmount the shortcomings. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.5/5 |
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This release comes with a matted slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The only item included is The Making of Dark Crimes (19:42; HD) featurette with interviews by the cast (sans Carrey) and behind-the-scenes footage. Previews – An Ordinary Man, The Forgiven, Braven, The Hangman |
VIDEO – 3.5/5 |
| Per the title, the 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec) is quite dark, even during the daylight scenes. Detail is okay but especially sharp and colors are as non-existent as a color film could be, so there’s absolute no real pop. But even as dark and gritty as the movie is, the transfer itself does appear clean free of any artifacts or aliasing. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| The disc includes a basic but effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Dialogue levels come through with fine clarity and the few action-esque scenes do provide a bit of depth, albeit nothing overly noteworthy. Otherwise, this is your standard lossless track that will neither wow nor disappoint you. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
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Overall, Dark Crimes had some potential and as a fan of these procedural murder-mysteries, this should’ve been right in my wheelhouse, but instead we get a dry and at times dull story with poor pacing; outside of Jim Carrey’s devoted performance, this is not something I could recommend. The Blu-ray isn’t remarkable with a forgettable featurette and so-so to fine video and audio transfers. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.