MovieChat Forums > The Substance (2024) Discussion > Overlong, lazy and ultimately empty.

Overlong, lazy and ultimately empty.

posted a month ago by seagal72 (1959)
7 replies | jump to latest

What could have been an interesting 'Cronenberg meets Seconds' scenario...indulged itself with pointless filler and then (as with most modern movies, horror or otherwise) cheated its way to the end, by relying on lazy fantasy scenes (that no-doubt, supporters of this 'naked-emporer' will defend as 'satire')

Throughout its (overlong, padded) running time, I found myself questioning the many plot-holes and imagining a much better movie, scenario and/or outcome?

Even the gore was boring.

[–] redban (6164) a month ago

I did feel the movie seemed more fit for 90 minutes than over 2 hours. There are too many gross scenes, particularly involving food.

But the movie overall is solid, and I love Demi Moore’s performance.

[–] seagal72 (1959) a month ago

Imagine how better it would been, if it had a leaner running time and (despite its genre) a more realistic take on its unrealistic scenario (without the over-reliance of hallucinations, etc)
And that goes double for it's likewise lazy charactitures and endless plot-holes?

[–] maximmm (3335) a month ago

I liked the allegories hidden within, but the original premise of the film has some major holes/flaws.

[–] TheCatman (277) a month ago

There wasn't enough story for such a long film.

In addition, the drug was supposed to make a perfected duplicate of you and Demi Moore was better looking than the actress who played her "duplicate" while looking nothing like her.

I assumed that the duplicate would be Demi but CGIed to look young again.

On top of that, the film was very predictable regarding what would happen. That would have been okay if they had written more complex interactions between characters to flesh out the predictable story.

It was an okay film, better than most horror movies, but weirdly lazy since there was a lot more that could have been done.

[–] unlockingfreedom (231) a month ago

@TheCatman

Could not agree more.

Demi Moore was the hottie, be it older. The young clone was just younger, not more better looking as you wrote.

It would have been a better film if thsi was not cloning into a separate body, but by the Shinya Yamanaka factors that he won the nobel prize in science. These are induced plenipotent stem cells which reverse the age of any cell.

That is what i thought the film would be.

Aubrey de Grey who works in rejuvenation has a real issue with Hollywood as the premise of becoming healthy and younger is always turned into horror with negative outcomes.

http://www.printernational.co.uk/timmann/age_regression.htm

[–] TheCatman (277) a month ago

Very interesting link!

Thanks.

[–] CaptBeefBlower (242) a month ago

Very true. It was also about as subtle as a kick to the groin. I'm not even talking about the body horror but just the way the story is told, with Moore getting about 20 in-your-face reminders that she's over the hill in the first 10 minutes, and the obnoxious-beyond-belief producer.

If this is truly one of the best films of the year, cinema is fucked.