"The Power of the Dog", written and directed by Jane Campion, is a prarie-set family drama. Two brothers run the family ranch in 1925 Montana. Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a diamond in the rough, sort of, in that while he's dirty and smells of cattle, he's educated and sneers cruel jibes at everyone. Sherlock in a stetson, if you will. His doofus brother, (Jesse Plemmons) takes up with a local waitress (Kirsten Dunst) and marries her, which pleases the possessive Phil not at all.
It's all rather dreary and dull and overlong. Each scene and pause therein takes just a few seconds longer than it really should, sabotaging the prospect of any tension rising at all. Cumberbatch is mediocre, Plemmons is surprisingly dull, while Dunst resorts to amdram acting when her character takes to the bottle, staggering everywhere. There's a surprise cameo from Keith Carradine, which is nice, and some great scenery, but my god, Terrance Malick could have done something wonderful with THAT. Kodi Smit-McPhee is wonderfully unsettling at Dunst's son, and there is a nice twist at the end in his story arc, but that's about it. Oh, and there's also Jonny Greenwood's music, all droning, queasy strings that really, really gets annoying. A palpable miss, this one.
It's all rather dreary and dull and overlong. Each scene and pause therein takes just a few seconds longer than it really should, sabotaging the prospect of any tension rising at all. Cumberbatch is mediocre, Plemmons is surprisingly dull, while Dunst resorts to amdram acting when her character takes to the bottle, staggering everywhere. There's a surprise cameo from Keith Carradine, which is nice, and some great scenery, but my god, Terrance Malick could have done something wonderful with THAT. Kodi Smit-McPhee is wonderfully unsettling at Dunst's son, and there is a nice twist at the end in his story arc, but that's about it. Oh, and there's also Jonny Greenwood's music, all droning, queasy strings that really, really gets annoying. A palpable miss, this one.