I have a habit of enjoying small scale thrillers, and figured Tangled looked good enough for me to spend some of my precious time on. Well, not only is this film not good enough to warrant using up ninety minutes of my time; it's arguably not even a thriller, seeing as the movie features nothing in the way of suspense; and doesn't make up for that with anything interesting about the characters or the situation. This is actually a real shame because the base of this movie is good and could easily have lead into something worthwhile; but the writers clearly weren't talented enough to capitalise on the promise. The plot focuses on a love triangle between three young people and as the film starts, one of the triangle has been admitted to hospital with plenty of bumps and bruises. He gets questioned by the police and the film then cuts to flashbacks which shows us what happened in the build up to him being beaten up and put in hospital. Turns out that there's a girl named Jenny at the bottom of it; and this starts a rivalry between two friends.
The choice to have the film cutting back from flashbacks all the time was a big mistake; it's really annoying and means that the film doesn't flow very well, which certainly affects it in terms of tension and suspense. A film like this therefore really needs to have strong characters to work from; but it doesn't. None of the three central ones are really fleshed out and I didn't believe their relationships either. The three central cast members are not particularly good; they're not helped by the script, in fairness, but the performances are nothing special anyway. This is only the second time I've seen Rachael Leigh Cook in anything (Get Carter remake being the first) and I doubt I'll be seeking out anything else with her in it. Shawn Hatosy is as wooden as they come, while Jonathan Rhys Meyers does put some effort in but doesn't create a convincing character. The first hour is really quite dull and comes off as more of a drama than a thriller. The final third of the film is when the inevitable twist comes into play and while the finale is better than the rest of the film; it's really nothing to write home about. Overall, Tangled tries it's best to be clever but unfortunately fails and I wouldn't even recommend this as a decent timewaster.
The choice to have the film cutting back from flashbacks all the time was a big mistake; it's really annoying and means that the film doesn't flow very well, which certainly affects it in terms of tension and suspense. A film like this therefore really needs to have strong characters to work from; but it doesn't. None of the three central ones are really fleshed out and I didn't believe their relationships either. The three central cast members are not particularly good; they're not helped by the script, in fairness, but the performances are nothing special anyway. This is only the second time I've seen Rachael Leigh Cook in anything (Get Carter remake being the first) and I doubt I'll be seeking out anything else with her in it. Shawn Hatosy is as wooden as they come, while Jonathan Rhys Meyers does put some effort in but doesn't create a convincing character. The first hour is really quite dull and comes off as more of a drama than a thriller. The final third of the film is when the inevitable twist comes into play and while the finale is better than the rest of the film; it's really nothing to write home about. Overall, Tangled tries it's best to be clever but unfortunately fails and I wouldn't even recommend this as a decent timewaster.