Ambition is normally the type of movie right in my wheelhouse and the film does start off well enough before coming right off the rails at the end. However, I will say lead actress Katherine Hughes acquitted herself well enough.
Ambition
(2019)
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Shout Factory | NR – 87 min. – $19.99 | November 5, 2019
Date Published: 12/19/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Shout Factory 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 — 2.25/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Jude (KATHERINE HUGHES) is an intense, driven musician preparing for the biggest performance of her life, which is turned upside down following the death, and apparent suicide, of her primary competitor (JORDAN SALMON). She soon discovers someone may be targeting her with suspects including her pothead neighbor (DYLAN MCNAMARA), his new flat mate (GILES MATTHEY), or her sex-addicted roommate (SONOYA MIZUNO). Note: This portion of the review does contain spoilers. Quick Hit Review: Generally I like the suspense-thriller genre, especially ones with mystery elements, so it seemed Ambition would be right up my alley. And for the bulk of the movie, I was entertained even if the lower budget was evident with minimal locations (only three I believe) and a relatively no-name cast. But then came the finale which, while it does make sense on the basic level, the twist that was revealed was not only unsatisfying but downright confusing thinking back to the events that transpired. Spoiler alert: the main character, Jude, was the one behind it all, some sort of split personality. Perhaps on paper this worked but in practice it didn’t quite worked, not to mention the actions of one particular character was so dumb that, again once the twist is revealed, makes little sense. I guess on the positive side of things, the performances for the most part were decent. I liked Katherine Hughes in the lead as she carried herself well and given what she had to work with, showed she could have a future in more prominent features. The supporting cast were fine, though no real standouts and in one of the more bizarre scenes, Lynn Shaye (of Sinister fame) makes a cameo appearance as a favor to her brother, director Bob Shaye. Speaking of Bob Shaye, he is primarily known for being a producer behind A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Lord of the Rings franchises, and this marks only his third film as director (first being 1990’s Book of Love followed by The Last Mimzy released back in 2007), so limited experience. In terms of the actual direction, nothing noteworthy and the issues were mostly due to the script (by John Rocco and Jenna Wright; feature debuts for both) and editing (Michael Trent; Sinister 2, Jem and the Holograms). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5 |
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This release comes with a matted slip cover. The only feature included is the Trailer (1:23). |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Ambition is shown with a 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture quality isn’t anything incredible but pretty standard as new releases go, with some decent detail while colors are a bit drab in keeping with the tone of the movie and that the third act pretty much takes place during a storm. |
AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track was surprisingly stronger than expected. Dialogue, of course, comes through with good clarity but the depth does come into play during the aforementioned storm where the winds and rain hit the house and windows with a decent impact. Not exactly reference quality but still fairly impressive nonetheless. |
OVERALL – 2.0/5 |
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Ambition is normally the type of movie right in my wheelhouse and the film does start off well enough before coming right off the rails at the end. However, I will say lead actress Katherine Hughes acquitted herself well enough and at the very least this had its moments. |