The Ravine is sadly a confusing version of a straightforward story. The mystery of the murder is strong, but it does not get the chance to handle it rationally. The characters do nothing wrong or right, they are just tired of a script that seems to work for two masters.
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The Ravine (2022): Review
The religious aspects of the movie make perfect sense when the characters go through it, but they also distort the structure in a big way. At the end of the movie, racist slogans drown the floating ship, and director Keoni Waxman’s (Absolution) takes over the book by Robert and Kelly Pascuzzi.
When Danny Turner (Peter Facinelli) committed a heinous act of violence against his family, his friends and loved ones did not believe he had it in him. They all come together as Detective Ben Lee (Byron Mann) lays out the facts. As he asks them about Danny’s past, it is clear that he had a dark outlook on him known to some, but not all.
Danny’s friend Mitch (Eric Dane) is left with both of them to grieve and investigate parts of the case Detective Lee only shared with him. The story is told, piece by piece, according to several ideas and finally, leads to the revelation of how Mitch copes with the most difficult times in his life.
Powerful religious films can be hard to control. When a movie comes out of the gate with a Christian message one knows what the rules are. But if that element is introduced in the original act and is reversed as a twist, the movie formulation is the only thing that prevents the episode from disintegrating. The Ravine begins as a direct murder mystery. It is absolutely stunning and complete with flashbacks and a well-dressed detective with natural intelligence.
Sadly, as the weight of murder enters the followers, they do not turn to religion. There is a scene where two young men are pardoned for a heinous crime in which the victim chooses God over drugs. This happens in flashback which works perfectly as the backstory of the characters. But when God is a church, viewers may be confused as to where they went into what they thought was a mysterious murder.
Religion is by no means the sin of The Ravine. An unforgivable feature of the movie is a dialogue referring to the skin color of one black character in a biblical sense. To that end, the so-called “Magical Negro” trope is fully operational in The Ravine. Leslie Uggams (Deadpool) plays Joanna, an actress who comes from outside to appease white actors.
She gave the answers to the questions they have not asked yet and the full mental profile of all the characters. Like many of its predecessors, The Ravine thinks this trope is a fair play where the actor has a direct spiritual connection to the movie world. But like The Green Mile, special effects can’t hide one of Hollywood’s obsolete songs.
The mysterious murderous feature of The Ravine is where the movie makes its stand. If the movie were less concerned about the guilt and grief of the characters and more about what drove them to this point, the best parts of the production would be highlighted. The opening leaves an interesting twist that makes one think the movie could go in a few directions. However, no doubts have been made prior to the first act and the movie loses track of the main store immediately.
When facts are presented and a hand-held background shows Danny making backroom deals, the movie is a high-octane that is a happy symbol. And it has the right characters for that. Eric Dane appears most prominently after Euphoria and Gray’s Anatomy while Peter Facinelli appears in the Twilight franchise. The movie uses… about three scenes.
There is a very interesting movie somewhere in The Ravine, but it seems to have been left out in the planning area. The plot and the characters should have been made into a movie full of twists and driven by an active flashback. Maybe the size of the movie was the only one.
Leading scenes are the main characters that bring the show to the living room. Everything else that touches the movie leaves the viewer bored and confused knowing that there is still the answer they need at the end of this murder mystery. What’s important is that Ravine can’t stay in high gear long enough to make one invest in what it has to offer.
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