Reptile

A surprising gem from Netflix. A gritty crime drama with an outstanding Benicio in the lead. For a debut, it's an impressive effort. The chilling atmosphere feels straight out of a David Fincher film, and while it drags a bit in the middle, the finale is grounded and absolutely fantastic. (2023-10-06)

Reptile is an atmospherically creepy crime thriller with appropriately gloomy music that is original in its details, creatively interesting editing and a perfect cast, including all of the supporting characters. Benicio Del Toro turns in a majestic acting performance. With its excellent balance between revealing the suspicious characters and the constant uncertainty that comes with the feeling that everything will be different, Reptile is probably this year’s best American contribution to the genre. For a feature-length debut by a music-video director, this is a unique feat that puts Grant Singer on the path to joining the ranks of the elites (Villeneuve, Fincher). Four and a half stars. (2023-10-03)

A dark neo-noir crime drama from Netflix and the evil Benicio Del Toro! This is what a double win should look like. An unknown outsider makes one of the crime dramas of the year and straight to Netflix, which was in acute need of a better film already (fall at Netflix is always more packed than the rest of the year). Reptile is an intimate, old-school, atmospheric and dark crime drama where seasoned detective Benicio Del Toro investigates the murder of a real estate agent (the guy almost never leaves the frame). Everyone knows that slow movies and I don't get along, but sometimes a miracle happens and I can enjoy a movie of this cut and that's what Reptile is. The film won me over from the opening and kept my attention throughout – this is very important in a film where not much happens. It's great that most of the time they actually investigate and do some honest crime work (I was worried that they were going to deal with family issues and that there would be uninteresting plot diversions, as is the habit with other crime films, but thankfully that doesn't happen here), everything is built on great actors, great atmosphere and an uncomfortable stuffiness in the air. Among the supporting cast, Justin Timberlake and Michael PItt stand out. I was also intrigued that a classic whodunit about a manhunt for a killer, morphs into something bigger, more complex and unexpected in the second half. I have to say that the twist worked for me and was a pleasant shock. Good film. 8/10. (2023-10-02)

Perfect craftsmanship. A mix of intricate crime drama like Mystic River and gloomy atmosphere in the style of the recent The Little Things with Denzel Washington, but with a much more interesting script and a fantastic cast. The experience isn't in the twist or the story's outcome, which is predictable and there’s no really big surprise in store. The key is the style of the storytelling, the direction and the work of the editor, who has a great sense of composition and masterfully mixes some of the sound and image structures into unique units. For what is essentially a directorial debut, hats off. (2023-10-14)

How is it possible for a filmmaker to make such a high-brow thriller on their directorial debut? How?! Reptile is, after all, a masterpiece slowburn thriller with a first-rate, suffocating and perfect atmosphere dealing with the murder of a young stockbroker, but the deeper the detective gets into the investigation, the more drastically his view of the whole case changes, as does his character. The paranoid hallucinations, the nerve-wracking personality transformation and the chilling way he delves deeper into the case make this film, which appears at first and throughout the first half to be an ordinary whodunit, a thriller drama that gradually burrows deep under the viewer's skin, stirring up incredible emotions and an incredulous curiosity as to what will happen next. The case becomes far more complicated than it first appears and shows that this is definitely not an ordinary murder, but a much, much bigger intrigue. I had a great time in the second half, the film won me over completely to its side, and I have to say that if there had been a slightly more literal showdown and final "explanation" at the end, I probably would have been ready for a full score. As it is, the you have to make a little bit of an assumption. Though in the end, it may not even be a flaw. Excellent, chilling, suffocating and Benicio Del Toro proves again and again that he is a god in his own right, as he showed in Sicario. Excellent. (2023-09-30)