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Mandy Movie Review

“That was my favorite shirt!” - Red Miller
Mandy is an action horror revenge thriller starring Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough, and directed by Panos Cosmatos.  It’s about a man named Red Miller (Cage) and his girlfriend Mandy Bloom (Riseborough), and they live together in the woods.  A cult then comes in led by Jeremiah Sand, and takes Mandy away. Red then goes out to get revenge.
I really was looking forward to this film, and anticipating its release greatly.  And I will say, Mandy didn’t disappoint. I’ll start with the things I liked about the movie.  I loved the color palette, and I enjoyed the cinematography greatly for the most part. I’ll elaborate on that later.  The acting in this film is amazing, and passionate. Nick Cage is very good here, but the real spotlight shows on Linus Roache as the despicable Jeremiah Sand, the leader of the Children of the New Dawn.  I was absolutely transfixed by his performance. The third act of this ridiculous movie is absolutely beautiful, and everything I hoped for out of Mandy.
I loved the prop design in this movie too.  The gore effects are also more than noteworthy.  The cinematography is really, really good, and the use of visual imagery is fantastic.  There are so many creepy, strange, and obscure images in Mandy, even some trippy dream sequences that are animated.
The sound design is also really well done.  The music has some very cool doom metal influences, and also very trippy, synth heavy pieces that just scream ‘80’s.
Now for the things I didn’t love.  There were many many shots that lingered forever, and dragged on much too long, making the film feel a bit self indulgent.  There was one scene transition that I felt was a bit choppy. And there were also times where the film felt a little cheesy, but that is one of the things that this movie has going for it at times too.
In short, I totally dug Mandy, and I think that if you’re in the mood for a weird, hyper-violent slow burn action horror flick with a lot of thrills, you’ll love Mandy too.
Rating: Not Rated

Grade: A-

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