The reviews for Colin Trevorrow’s latest movie “The Book Of Henry” are out, and they’ve left all the Star Wars fan perplexed as he is the director for Episode XI. Usually, bad movies are bad for usual reasons like bad acting, weak story or some sluggish visual effects. But “The Book Of Henry” is one movie that left even the critics wondering what the worst part was. If the reviews are to be believed, it is a film that should be avoided at all cost.
The movie is about how a preteen genius boy, played by Jacob Tremblay, sends his mother (Naomi Watts) to take revenge from a sexually abusive neighbor. If that sounds absurd, wait till you read the reviews. They are not just bad; they’re painful by every means. So much so that people are forced to think if this blunder would cost Trevorrow the Star Wars gig.
John DeFore pointed out the concern in his review for The Hollywood Reporter in which he writes,
“Those of us who’ve allowed ourselves to care about the latest Star Wars trilogy may be made fearful about the prospect of an Episode IX directed by Trevorrow. The garden-variety blockbuster lameness of his Jurassic World was one thing; after this near-catastrophe, can he really be trusted with the fate of the Jedi?”
If that is not enough, take a look at Michael O’Sullivan’s words for The Washington Post. He terms it
“The filmmaking equivalent of a monkey with the head of a goat, the tail of a fish, wings and teeny-tiny rat claws. Trevorrow knows what he is doing — or would, if he were making four or five separate films.” He concludes saying, “In the end, The Book of Henry falls apart in a heap of loose pages, each one taken from a different script.”
If you feel the over ambitious attempt had sunk the ship for Treverrow, take a look at this review from The Playlist’s Drew Taylor. He writes,
“[J]ust because a movie is different (and, to be sure, this ain’t The Mummy we’re dealing with here) doesn’t mean that it’s good.”
Cinemablend’s Gregory Wakeman too had some similar views. He writes,
“just being risky and surprising doesn’t automatically make a film audacious and impressive. It can instead be detrimental. Sadly, the twists and turns of Colin Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry firmly fall into the latter category, as they make you feel frustrated, bored, and even a little startled at just how wildly and laughably inappropriate they make the film.
He goes on to term it as:-
“an unmitigated stinker … that should be avoided at all costs.”
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw sums up the sorry tale in the opening line of his review. He writes,
“In its pure misjudged ickiness, bad-acting ropiness and its quirksy, smirky passive-aggressive tweeness, this insidiously terrible film could hardly get any more skin-crawling.”
The slew of reviews get even worse in Vulture, where Emily Yosida writes,
“The script is inexcusably bad and accounts for most of the film’s problems. But Trevorrow can’t draw a single emotional through line out of the muck, leaving his cast stranded in a directionless jumble of half-arcs. …The Book of Henry is a disaster to its bones, as mind-bendingly broken as The Room or Birdemic or any other piece of cult outsider art.”
If you wanna ignore all those reviews and still want to check it for yourself, Kristy Puchko from Pajiba has this warning for you,
“It’s so insipid and punishing and deplorable that I feel I’m owed hazard pay for enduring it. Don’t ignore me to see if it’s “so bad it’s good!” Life is too precious to waste any of it on The Book of Henry.”
To neutralize all these terrible reviews that have driven all the Star Wars fans into a state of qualm, Trevorrow tweeted a few words of inspiration.
Be proud of everything you paint, even if Mom doesn't put it on the fridge.
— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) June 15, 2017
So, do you believe that Episode IX is in the right hands or Colin Trevorrow deserves an Immediate replacement? Do Let us know in the comments section below. As for now, we can just say, may the force be with you, Colin!
