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Nightmare Alley Movie Review

Nightmare Alley is a 2021 neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Bradley Cooper in the main role. It’s a solid remake.

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“Same grift different threads“

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The movie is based on the novel of the same name, but in actuality it is mostly a straight remake of the original movie adaptation that was released in 1947. I love that film and I find it to be among the best noir movies out there, so this one came as a bit of a disappointment. It is pretty good, but still inferior to the original.

It is very faithful in its storyline, probably a bit too similar to its predecessor. I would have preferred more changes in the screenplay. The circus scenes are pretty good, but the real meat is the second half with the manipulation scenes still being the highlights. What bothered me is the introduction of excessive action and violence in the third act that also did not seem all that believable in the context of the story. The original was much more subtle in that regard.

Tyrone Power delivered his career-best turn in the role of Stan Carlisle, which is why the performance from Bradley Cooper felt inferior to that incredible work. It took me a while to grow accustomed to him in the role, but eventually I still really liked him, though the sophistication of the character’s portrayal is gone.

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I wouldn’t blame Cooper himself, but del Toro for portraying Stan as overly violent and thus utterly unsympathetic. Power was both menacing and somehow sympathetic, which made for a more interesting protagonist. Cooper is excellent, especially in the more emotional scenes and that terrific, touching ending, but the characterization simply did not appeal to me.

This Nightmare Alley has an all-star cast and everybody delivered excellent work. Cooper is easily the highlight, but Rooney Mara is also very good as the girlfriend, Toni Collette is so much fun as Zeena, Willem Dafoe is memorably despicable as Clem and Richard Jenkins was quite tragic as the grief-stricken Ezra. As for Cate Blanchett, yes, she is over-the-top, much more so than her counterpart from the forties interestingly enough. However, I still liked her performance as it fits the character and she is wildly entertaining in the role. She obviously had a lot of fun playing Lilith and that exuberance shows throughout.

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Guillermo del Toro is a very gifted filmmaker when it comes to the artistic aspects and Nightmare Alley is as gorgeous as you’d expect from him. The costumes are faithful to its era and quite inspired, rightfully being nominated for an Oscar. The score is also strong as are the sound effects. The directing from del Toro is very good and the movie’s cinematography is fantastic, especially the long takes.

But the highlight has to be the production design. The movie’s carnival scenes feature amazing sets and a meticulous eye for detail. They were almost horror-like in execution. But the real star is the architecture. The many curves and lines as well as the furniture embody the greatness of Art Deco and the hotel in particular looked absolutely beautiful.

The film is superbly crafted on all levels and very much embodying the noir genre elements, but it doesn’t do anything unique with it, but just honor it as sort of homage. My main issue was the pacing. In the original, it was much brisker and shorter, but here the movie lost that momentum as it was half an hour too long. It’s still a pretty good movie, but it could have been much better had it been trimmed a bit.

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