Evil Is Closer Than You think || Movie Review.

The title of this movie makes me so curious to know what happens in the movie and seeing Samuel L. Jackson as one of the main characters, I quickly decided to see the movie without hesitation. I love Samuel L. Jackson's works, they are always interesting and entertaining to me. Also, he is one of my favorite actors in Hollywood.

There are famous quotes, that says ”Keep your enemies close” and ”The enemy is always within and around”. You see these two quotes are vividly depicted in this movie and in fact, the storyline of this movie revolves around those two quotes above. I love this because this movie comes with a motive to not just entertain the audience but also pass an awareness message to them.

’Damaged (2024)’ is a crime drama that is from the producers of ’Breaking Bad TV series’. This film was directed by Terry McDonough. Its screenplay was written by Koji Steven Sakai, Gianni Capaldi and Paul Aniello. It starred Samuel L. Jackson, Vincent Cassel, Gianni Capaldi, Laura Haddock, John Hannah and Kate Dickie.

The plot of this movie is about a Chicago detective, Dan Lawson (Samuel) who was invited over to Scotland by the Scottish authorities to investigate a recent murder incident that seems to be identical to the case Dan handled five years ago back in Chicago.

When Dan arrived, discovered that he would be working with detective Boyd and along with Walker. So Dan and Boyd began investigating immediately but still did get any breakthrough. However, some of the evidence left on the crime points that the killer might be performing some cult rituals but after so much digging it was not the case. Not long, another murder incident occurred again which brings this question, who is the killer? And why target specific victims?

My Review And Rating.

If you are interested in watching this movie, please don't read the reviews online because they are all negative. Now, you should know by now as an avid lover of movies, great gems are hidden with low ratings and negative reviews. In the case of this movie, the negative reviews online didn't do justice to this movie. In my own opinion, I will say that you should go to see this movie with an open mind.

In my own case, before I saw the movie, I had already read all the online negative reviews but then the review I read by @kemmyb changed my mind totally. When I saw the movie, it was not bad. I began to wonder what made people criticize this movie negatively. This movie was not what I expected. It was beyond my expectations and I truly enjoyed the intriguing storyline.

’Damaged’ is a slow burn crime drama where the plot is an allegory, fully packed with good mystery, suspense, tension and twist. It is not action packed so therefore an avid lover of action film might consider this movie boring. This movie is slow-paced, it builds its tension right from the beginning while also keeping its audience curious as to who the antagonist is and how he picks his victims.

I loved how the plot was written. The characters were developed well, the elusiveness of the antagonist was well hidden in plain sight and unexpected. I was actually beyond shocked at the end when the killer was revealed. I didn't see that coming. Also, I love that at the end of this movie, we were given the impression that maybe there will be a sequel later as the antagonist character was not fully resolved.

Samuel L Jackson did a fantastic job as usual. He was the spotlight and star of the movie. For me, I think the rest of the characters didn't really shine. They were somewhat in the shadows throughout the movie. Gianni Capaldi and Vincent Cassel did shine alongside Jackson. Their performance was convincing, and natural. I think they played their roles well.

The cinematography was excellent, the blood, the bodies were well and vividly portrayed. If you can stand the sight of blood or dismembered body parts don't watch this movie because it was fully depicted and captured. There is no graphics or CGI to the blood and bodies. The camera work was excellent, the location was befitting also.

Rating this movie, I will give it 7.9 out 10 stars. It was an intriguing movie for me. I enjoyed it. Especially the suspense, the mystery and the unexpected reveal of the antagonist. Do you enjoy slow-burn crime dramas and are you a fan of Samuel L Jackson's works? Then, this movie is for you.

All images above are from the movie screenshots

Poster image source

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