With two central characters having extrasensory perception, director Afonso Poyart (Two Rabbits) tries to dive into the zone of David Fincher’s 90s classic Se7en (Seven) in this new serial killer thriller Solace. As a movie buff, you can sense from the very beginning that the script is trying really hard to be in the league of Se7en, but without much substance.
The script of ‘Solace’ has its origin linked back to the days of Se7en when it was planned to be a worthy sequel to the classic that tells the story of two detectives (played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) who goes all out to solve a disturbing murder mystery. Solace, on the other hand, also involves a murder mystery but this time, neither the story was that engaging nor the sequence of events was that provocative.
Coming back to the storyline, Solace follows an FBI agent Joe (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who meets a psychic doctor John (Anthony Hopkins) to hunt down a serial killer. Colin Farrell plays the serial killer Charles but the problem here is that the psychic power of Charles is a step ahead of John. The plot certainly looks interesting, at least the first few minutes of the film do give you that feeling.
Solace – Movie Trailer
The basic problem with the film is that it’s a neo-noir old-school serial-killer flick and when one actually tries to follow the footsteps of some other film (for example, the idea of a killer leaving behind strange clues at each murder scene), the story should have the necessary elements to tie everything together. Probably, with some much-needed script adjustment, this film could have been a praiseworthy sequel.
In the end, if there is anything to cheer about is certainly the acting of Anthony Hopkins. The master himself could not save the film, of course, the script lets everyone down. I may think of what prompts Hopkins to accept this movie, but then just thinking about the premise where you get to know a serial killer who not only kills for fun or just for passing time, but for a purpose – by targeting his victims who are terminally ill patients and hence ‘killing them with kindness.’ Isn’t the whole idea makes it interesting? It’s just that, somehow the treatment was not good enough.
Film: Solace (2015)
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Abbie Cornish, Marley Shelton, Xander Berkeley, Sharon Lawrence, Janine Turner, and Matt Gerald
Directed by Afonso Poyart
Screenplay by Ted Griffin and Sean Bailey
Cinematography Brendan Galvin
Release Date/Year: December 16, 2016
Where to watch Solace (2015)
