Eden
review by Bobby Blakey
For years director Ron Howard has been bringing outstanding films to the big screen including Willow, Ransom, A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Thirteen Lives and so many more. His latest film Eden once again brings together an impressive cast including Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby, Daniel Brühl, and Sydney Sweeney. Could this film bring this strange story to life, or should it have stayed stranded on the island?
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Eden follows the shocking true story of a group of disillusioned outsiders who abandon civilization, settling on a remote, uninhabited island only to discover that the greatest threat isn’t the brutal climate or deadly wildlife, but each other. As tensions spiral and desperation takes hold, a twisted power struggle unfolds, leading to betrayal, violence, and the deaths of half the colony.
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I knew of this story, but not any of the real details heading into this film. I think that is the best approach as it works better as a less is more as you get to see all the elements and characters come into the story with no idea of what’s really going on. It is a simple enough story on the surface, but the once tranquil place for one man becomes something anything but. The cast is great, but this is a film that might not work for everyone and is not the typical Ron Howard film.
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The tone feels like a smaller, more independent film in its visual style and execution. It doesn’t look cheap or anything, it just has a smaller film in the camera work but brilliantly uses the island and its surroundings to make it bigger than life. Where the dangers of the island could have easily been the issues, they delt with its human nature, greed, lust and more that are the true horrors.
There are moments that are frustrating in the actions of those on the island. As things play out there are so many moments that could have ended a lot of
insanity, but with it being based on true events I get them having to go with it. It is just baffling to why people would tolerate some of this stuff, but again human nature is a strange thing. The pacing drags at times with some elements that could have been trimmed up as it felt like we are just watching people do chores or wander around sometimes for no reason and I get it was just establishing their life on the island, but it slowed things down sometimes.
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In the end the great performances, strange events and engaging story make it a movie worth checking out, especially knowing that it really happened in some form or another. I was pleasantly surprised that it even had photos and old home movie style footage of life of these people on the island, making it all the crazier that any of this may have happened in any variation.
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While you will have to wait until August 22nd to see the film in theaters, you can check out the teaser trailer and poster here now from Vertical.
