Dark Places is a quirky movie that pushes the boundaries of believability to the breaking point. The one plus is at least it's not one of Hollywood's usual rehashed remakes or a comic book hero saga, but that's about the extent of it's good points.
Charlize Theron is miscast as the main character, Libby Day, (but when you're the executive producer you can OK the casting of yourself in the lead role) and plays her like a mediocre copy of her 'Monster' character. Evidently, she has spent the past 28 years as a single, man-hating woman with a masculine swagger. Nicholas Hoult, who I always enjoy, has a minimal role here (which is a shame) as Lyle Worth, who portrays the leader of a 'kill club' that investigates old murders. Chloe Grace Moretz is spot-on as Diondra, the murdering pregnant girlfriend. She always seems to play creepy young females, and does so flawlessly.
Some of the unbelievable plot line questions (SPOILER ALERT)...why would Libby Day's brother prefer to spend nearly 30 years in prison protecting his girlfriend, who chokes his little sister to death? Why would Libby's mother decide to hire someone to kill her while her 3 young daughters are in the house? And speaking of the killer, how does someone get away with offering his services as a killer who assists in suicides so the victim's family can collect insurance money and apparently never gets caught, even though he appears to be well known for his specialty (does he have an ad in the yellow pages?)? How does the murdering girlfriend know that Libby called Lyle to come get her, and then disappears when he shows up? And apparently Diondra's daughter was just born bad, as her mother told her everything about her murderous past and she chooses to be her willing murdering accomplice.
Not the best who-done-it, but not the worst either.
Charlize Theron is miscast as the main character, Libby Day, (but when you're the executive producer you can OK the casting of yourself in the lead role) and plays her like a mediocre copy of her 'Monster' character. Evidently, she has spent the past 28 years as a single, man-hating woman with a masculine swagger. Nicholas Hoult, who I always enjoy, has a minimal role here (which is a shame) as Lyle Worth, who portrays the leader of a 'kill club' that investigates old murders. Chloe Grace Moretz is spot-on as Diondra, the murdering pregnant girlfriend. She always seems to play creepy young females, and does so flawlessly.
Some of the unbelievable plot line questions (SPOILER ALERT)...why would Libby Day's brother prefer to spend nearly 30 years in prison protecting his girlfriend, who chokes his little sister to death? Why would Libby's mother decide to hire someone to kill her while her 3 young daughters are in the house? And speaking of the killer, how does someone get away with offering his services as a killer who assists in suicides so the victim's family can collect insurance money and apparently never gets caught, even though he appears to be well known for his specialty (does he have an ad in the yellow pages?)? How does the murdering girlfriend know that Libby called Lyle to come get her, and then disappears when he shows up? And apparently Diondra's daughter was just born bad, as her mother told her everything about her murderous past and she chooses to be her willing murdering accomplice.
Not the best who-done-it, but not the worst either.