Dear oh dear. Where do I even start? I was quite excited about Stoker when I first heard about it. Mainly down to two points. One, it was being directed by Chan-wook Park (director of OldBoy), and two, it was written by Wentworth Miller (of Prison Break fame). Well I am sorry to say I was sorely disappointed. The story concerns a young girl called India Stoker (played by Mia Wasikowska) who’s father (played by Dermot Mulroney) is killed in a car accident. Shortly after her uncle Charlie (played my Matthew Goode) comes to stay with India and her mentally unstable mother (played by Nicole Kidman). Charlie begins to earn India’s mothers affection, but gets only looks of distrust from India. To say anymore would spoil the story.

Matthew Goode is perhaps the films only saving grace. He is played to perfection, using his good looks any sinister charms to worm his way into the family. Mia Wasikowska is okay as India, but I just never bought into her role. As for Nicole Kidman, well she just annoys me in this movie. There is a small role for Ralph Brown as the Sherriff. Movie fans might remember Ralph as the drug addled roadie in Wayne’s World 2. He has only a small role, but feels very out of place, mainly down to his appalling American accent.

What really hurt this movie for me was the amount of 5 star ratings it got. This is a pet peeve of mine as star ratings hurt a movie, by raising expectations the film can’t hope to match, or lowering them so much you fail to be let down. In this instance all the 5 star ratings made me think I was going to see something akin to OldBoy, which blew my mind. Sadly not. I watched this movie and found myself clock watching. It takes far too long to get going and by the time it had, I’d already lost interest. I found nothing worthy of a 5 star rating. I would say perhaps give it a watch if you want to see what all the fuss is about, but don’t get your hopes up.

2/5

JM