Mary Movie Review

Call me Charles Dickens, folks, because I had great expectations.

Were they unrealistic? Perhaps. The concept of a seafaring man (did I mention that he’s played by GARY FRIGGIN’ OLDMAN?!) who’s lured in by a boat in near-Christine fashion in an attempt to get a fresh start for his suffering marriage and beleaguered family is a solid emotional hook; the boat being utterly haunted by a witch “buried” at sea is a nasty premise with legit potential. Sadly, that brimming and multi-layered potential is squandered.

David (Gary Oldman; Dracula, True Romance) and his wife, Sarah (Emily Mortimer; Lars and the Real Girl), are trying to recover from her infidelity. He’s also a very unhappy man, a talented boat captain who’s toiling away on someone else’s charters. When he sees the abandoned salvage boat Mary, an 80-plus-foot antique sailboat just like the one his Dad had when he was a kid, he’s drawn like a moth to the flame and simply must have her. He sees his way to escape the past and start fresh with his forgiven wife and two daughters, Lindsey (Stefanie Scott; Insidious Chapter 3) and Mary (Chloe Perrin; Jurassic World). The family cleans her up and repair her hull, but before they even set out (along with Lindsey’s boyfriend, Tommy) they’re already plagued with nightmares and a sense of foreboding. Why was Mary abandoned? What’s the real story? Nonetheless, they set sail for Bermuda (across the Bermuda Triangle, of course). Mental collapse, dark revelations, and supernatural horror follows. What happened to the family on the open ocean with no one to protect them from Mary and nowhere to run?

So I don’t appear to be entirely piling it on, I’ll address the positives first. This movie is a joy to watch from a cinematic standpoint. It’s wonderfully shot in 35mm Panavision with killer panoramic shots that highlight both the happy and the terrifying with a keen eye for detail. Needless to say, there’s also Gary Oldman. That man could read the damn phonebook for two hours and win awards, and he’s showing rare restraint in playing David rather masterfully as a believably normal and endearing man who just wants to be a good father, husband, and sea captain. In short, it’s great looking and Oldman almost saves it.

Almost…

The Christine flavor is abandoned properly and the film becomes much more about Sarah than anyone else. That’s not a deal-breaker issue, but she’s not the most strongly written character by comparison. The narrative device really damages the flow where chronology would have been a much better choice from a viewer investment standpoint. Mary jumps between the present-day interrogation of a surviving Sarah by Detective Clarkson (Jennifer Esposito; Summer of Sam) and a “Four Months Ago” series of flashbacks to the story of what happened. Any drama (i.e. did the girls survive?) is killed by this device. It does serve the purpose of a twist on the ending that is mildly effective and appreciated, but that twist also isn’t shocking enough to justify the jarring and overused setup. You’re left with a feeling of a film that can’t commit to horror, thriller, or family drama. Instead, Mary dabbles its well-manicured toes in the water of all three.

As a horror film, there’s one effective shot of a pitch-black silhouette of the witch on the moonlit water where you see just enough for your imagination to fill in the blanks that is perfection. Aside from that, however, it’s trope laden and clichéd – Dad and boyfriend tension, nightmares providing the “horror”, youngest daughter’s creepy drawings and imaginary friend followed by possession…you get the idea.

This one is a real bummer, honestly, because Gary Oldman doesn’t jump into the bloody end of the pool very often and you’re praying that it’ll be even half as good as it should be. Instead, Mary is as dreadfully average as your sort of cool, Harley riding Uncle Dave refuses to believe he is just because he has a kick-ass leather jacket.

Dammit!