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Exposed

2/10

Stars: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Christopher McDonald, Mira Sorvino, Big Daddy Kane, Venue Ariel, Michael Rispoli, Gabriel Vargas

Director: Declan Dale aka Gee Malik Linton

It will be interesting to see how many would-be trendy reviewers will be following the work of the director of this dire, sleep-inducing thriller.

Will Declan Dale become another much-loved auteur?

Unlikely. Particularly as the director in question has sensibly taken the standard Alan Smithee escape route although, foolishly in my opinion, he has left his real name, Gee Malik Linton, credited as producer (along with his star Keanu Reeves) and as the screenwriter.

Reeves, Ana de Armas, Mira Sorvino and Christopher McDonald can blame their agents. Difficult, I would have thought, for a triple-threat tragedy like Linton to claim the same.

The plot tediously blends police procedural with supernatural tropes, casting Reeves, who, with a leaden and disinterested performance, appeared to be as bored and sleepy as most of the critics at the press show, as a New York City detective investigating the murder of his partner.

But his discovery that young Hispanic teacher and possible witness Armas is experiencing strange surreal nightmares, along with having a hard time dealing with his hard-ass boss McDonald and the dead man’s widow Mira Sorvino, makes things tough for him.

Regrettably, sitting through increasingly uninteresting exposition made things hard for me too but, apart from some interesting New York location filming I regret to say I was looking at my watch almost as often as I looked at the screen.

As thrillers go, it doesn’t.

(Incidentally, some 24 producers are credited for a movie that will be fortunate to make that many moviegoers at any single screening happy to have paid to have sat through this tepid film-flam).

Alan Frank

USA 2016. UK Distributor: Signature Entertainment. Colour.
102 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 2, Swearing 3.

Review date: 28 Feb 2016