Heartless (2009)

Good movie but grossly overrated

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Tired of living in a squalid section of London, a man with a deformed birthmark makes a deal with a demonic figure to get through his terrible life but finds the deal changed and must confront the results of the changed deal.Utterly intriguing and inviting effort that gets so much right that it's far more enjoyable than expected. Utilizing a far more accurate and realistic depiction of a squalor than most of the types out there, with an urban Hell of gangs running unchecked, a lack of police presence despite their constant appearance, fires, burglaries and gun-use which create a very threatening atmosphere upon which the horror starts up. Far, far more brutal in tone than expected, though the execution is lacking somewhat but there's enough there to leave an overall impression. Once it changes over and gets the deal executed which renders him a lot more normal and strips away the urban Hell of the early stages, it looses it's footing and concentrates on far more useless areas, such as the tepid adoption angle or the clichéd romance that takes up way too much time, is dragged out far beyond it's usefulness and makes the far far longer than it needs to be, moreover the fact that this section is played with a touch of black humor that clashes so jarringly with the gritty realism of the beginning that it really snaps you out of the film and thus this section constitutes it's only true flaw. While it again breathes some nice points with a pretty good finale and some overall nice touches, the middle segment keeps this down somewhat.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and children-in-jeopardy.

The "waste of time" reviews are a bit naive. The movie is a parable about the modern man's fears:Fear of life in a huge city - Fear of losing love and other things you cant live without - Fear of being different, defective (just like the main character)But at the end, hope and courage prevail and despite tragic scenes, the movie leaves you at the end with a feeling of optimism instead of despair.Facing own fears, accepting yourself the way you are, hope in love are in my opinion the main topics of the movie.And most important, its fun to watch! :-)

This is one of those muddled scripts that is usually written by an over-ambitious greenhorn who thinks that he can cram all his personal obsessions into his first movie, by force if need be. Sort of like packing up for a trip, having only one small bag to carry, and then you cram stuff into it, sit on it, etc. The fact that an experienced writer, not a novice, came up with this crap is all the more embarrassing.A horror film with a social message? Not again. You certainly don't have to be a young writer to have idiotic intentions like that; just take a look at George Romero and some of his daft socio-political zombie films (the recent ones): the more "meaningful messages" he tries to stuff inside them, the dumber these movies turn out.A young man (Morgan), with large birthmarks all over his face and body, witnesses a gang of demons one night. Soon people in London are being randomly murdered by them. And soon enough, they kill his mother. He is invited to meet their leader, who looks like a Russian mobster with a taste for heroine, but is in actual fact Satan or something or other. Satan gives him some goofy theory on how random violence improves mankind, and then tells him that his mother was killed "so that we could get you to enlist". I kid you not. No, I don't understand the logic of this either. It does get dumber, however.Satan offers Morgan a new face, no more debilitating birthmarks, in return for committing evil acts. Couldn't he have just ASKED him? Morgan was desperate as it is to have a new face. Killing his mother could have only prevented recruiting him, not helped. But it gets better: Morgan actually agrees, making a deal with the individual who had his mother brutally burnt to death in front of his own eyes! Sure makes sense, doesn't it.The demon has a young Indian girl, dressed in full traditional Indian regalia, acting as his… helper? Good-luck charm? Daughter? Assistant? Who the hell knows, but the girl adds much-needed unintentional comedy into this bleak mess of a film. Her behaviour is so over-the-top absurd and self-contradicting that any attempt to figure out what the director/writer wanted to achieve with this character is a complete and utter waste of time. All I can see is her being constantly abused as a silly plot-device so that all sorts of nonsense can happen later on.Morgan is visited by the "weapons guy", a cliché character right out of a Guy Ritchie comedy-caper. But it's just another bizarre, idiotic turn out of many in this shamelessly pointless movie.At this point things get a little predictable – and even more ridiculous. Obviously, it will not suffice for Morgan to just draw "God is a moron" graffiti as he'd been falsely instructed to do (such a transparent gimmick), in order to fulfill his end of the Faustian bargain, in return for getting a new face. He has to commit murder. Surprise. Who didn't see that one coming. Yawn. Morgan is not only a weak-willed pushover, he must be an utter idiot too. (The way he fails to realize that the Indian girl is just toying with him, manipulating everything, is amazing. A cretin would have figured it out.)His first victim is a male prostitute right out of a bloody silly comedy; a totally unrealistic character, suitably exaggerated (dumb and over-the-top) just so Morgan could kill him with ease. What person – especially a male prostitute who must be aware of the dangers of going to the homes of unknown men (especially someone behaving as strangely as Morgan) – lets themselves be rolled up in tape, mummy-wise, around the entire body by a complete stranger? To cut a dumb, long story short, one murder wasn't enough, and he has to kill again – his own girlfriend this time, played by Clemence Poesy - that awful nepotistic actress that appeared in one of the many dumb Harry Potter flicks. Using a hopelessly botched accent, and looking rather ugly, she is suddenly Morgan's love-interest. He has a new face, and straight away he hooks up with the first female he meets. Ts, ts, ts; typical nerd.The last half-hour is a complete mess. Predictable plot-twists, moronic plot-twists, and then an utterly daft, "philosophical" vision-of-daddy ending that doesn't tie into anything in any way, let alone neatly. "Heartless" is brainless, aimed at God-know-which demographic group. This piece of crap wouldn't develop a cult following if it were to play five thousand weeks in a row in a seedy cinema near you. Avoid this garbage at all cost.

Philip Ridley is primarily a play write, and this is without doubt presented in Heartless. You can almost see in every moment of dialogue the preachy speeches, the moral values defended by Nikita Mistry's character - Belle, almost acting like a chorus. I liked this, but it grew tiresome for me because I like reality within film. For those who don't know, this is briefly based around Marlow's Doctor Faustus, or the German Faust folklore. It is the idea of a polymath, a renaissance all rounder who wants to transcend earthly limitations by selling is soul to Lucifer for 24 years of a life of necromancy. Visually, considering the budget, it's a masterpiece that I admire for being bold and exceeding my expectations, however, it was hard to see past this considering the 'hit and miss' aspect of the story. I'm almost at a loss for words so I can only call it 'corny.' It tries to be a horror, yet there is an underlining dreadful moral aspect that would be okay, but it's far too forward, and far too off putting to enjoy. My main criticism is the pace of the story, paired with the severe lack of ability to empathise or sympathise with the lead character, or any of the other characters. Yes, it's meant to represent the downfall of a man, brought upon by himself, but who is to say we can't admire the character, enjoy the road they take us on, and enjoy their ability to realise their wrong doings. I respect that some people did enjoy it, some didn't, because it truly shows the diversity of the audience and how some people can see what is meant to be seen, and some can't, almost like a reflection of the main character, he see's what he wants to see.