Nightmare Alley Reviews

Since I had seen so far all the movies directed by Guillermo Del Toro, of course, I had to see his last directorial effort at some point, especially since it had once again received some solid reviews. Everybody noticed that, for the 1^st time of his career, Del Toro finally handled a fairly realistic tale without some fantastic elements but there was an obvious connection between his usual work and this carnival world filled with freaks and misfits. Anyway, there is no denying that the damned thing looked amazing and Del Toro, with his first neo-noir, delivered a pitch-perfect mood. Bradley Cooper also delivered a strong performance as well, even if his character turned out to be not much more than a cheap hustler after all. Concerning the story, it definitely had some potential but, to be honest, I think it could have been even better developed though. First of all, even if it was always entertaining, it was also really long and it felt as if Del Toro tried to combine two movies into one. Eventually, I wonder if the first act during which Stanton Carlisle learned the ropes at the carnival maybe should have been shortened. To make things worse, in spite of the rather extensive running time, most of the other characters (Molly, Dr. Lilith Ritter, Zeena, Pete, Clem, Ezra Grindle) were all barely developed which was a shame since they were all quite fascinating. The biggest victim was probably Rooney Mara who was stuck playing another thankless part. I mean, what did Molly see in Stanton? And, the other way around, what did he see in her? Coming back on Stanton Carlisle, we spend so much time with the guy and, as a result, I was expecting him to come up with something exceptional at some point. However, after all, the guy went from being a hobo to be a cheap hustler, then a slightly less cheap hustler and he finally ended up as a pathetic drunk so you might wonder if the guy was really worth spending so much time with after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that the final scene was pretty much perfect. Anyway, to conclude, even if it wasn’t really a homerun, it was still a solid watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Del Toro’s work.