Justin Haythe

This was better than I had expected from reading critics' reviews – but that doesn't mean that it's a very good film. In many ways it's a routine spy tale of who is double crossing whom, with views of a few European cities thrown in. The back story of the lead character's career as a ballerina cut short, and her ill mother, is really just padding and not interesting except insofar as the family background motivates her later actions in a particular way. The audience is also misled about her throughout the film. Various big name actors eg Jeremy Irons, do what are essentially cameos with accents. The grizzled American CIA man is a rather feeble character, making only a rudimentary show of suspicion before falling for his beautiful counterpart. Jennifer Lawrence naturally looks good at all times even after being savagely beaten etc etc, but physically is an unlikely ballerina. She certainly looks Slavic, and has the required hauteur for the role.… (more)

Overlong and overly studyied tale of a young American executive, Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), who is dispatched to a remote Swiss "wellness" clinic to bring home the company Chairman, who appears to have gone on a extended break. Lockhart finds the clinic located in an ancient, mountaintop castle and built over strange subterranean caverns. The castle is surrounded by legends and is run by the efficiently creepy Volmer (Jason Isaacs). In concert with Hannah (Mia Goth), a young woman he meets at the clinic, Lockhart slowly begins to make his way to the heart of a horrific mystery. "A Cure for Wellness" starts off as an intriguing Gothic mystery that sets up a range of questions about the nature of society. It delivers plenty of oblique illusions and Frankenstein references by way of Cronenbergian disease and body horror metaphors, but unfortunately loses sight of the need for mystery and excitement. Long sequences of Lockhart aimlessly wandering corridors and discovering another underground cavern becomes boring rather quickly and sucks the energy out of the film. The film also has a rather obvious revelation and ending that was fairly clear from the halfway point, Dane DeHaan makes for a downbeat and unengaging lead, but luckily Jason Isaacs' hammy theatricality more than makes up for that. Overall "A Cure for Wellness" is an interesting film, with a number of good ideas, that are unfortunately lost in a wandering unfocussed narrative - some sharp editing and the loss of 20 minutes would have improved the film immensely.… (more)

Interesting twists and turns in this story of a ballerina, Dominika, who breaks her leg badly enough to be unable to continue as a ballerina who then is offered a job by her uncle, a job that will force her to work as basically a honey trap spy. The skills she has gained have made her a lethal weapon but it's not a life she really wants.

It's an interesting watch, there are times it felt a bit stretched out and there were some scenes in the deleted scenes extras that would have made the story make more sense to me.

Sometimes it was a bit tough to watch.… (more)