You Were Never Really Here (2018)

Joaquin Phoenix...please don't participate in such a horrible movie any more! The overdramatic, lethargic, morose and Stephen King like environment of this movie would be good only if it had a sentient plot. You have wasted my time and I am so frustrated as I expected so much more from you. Yes, you act the part of a loony quite well...but damn it...GIVE ME A STORY I CAN FOLLOW!!! Yes, artsy...Yes, dark...Yes, gloomy...but SO WHAT!!! The Shinning was all that...but it kept me glued. This movie had me in rage at the end because it was such a STUPID movie. I hope the guys who are directing your next Joker movie have their heads screwed on right because if you do this again...the only movie I will ever see with you in it is The Gladiator. You were brilliant there. Take that hammer you used in the movie and smash every DVD of You Were Never Really Here. I stayed with the movie thru the end hoping for good development...but when it got to the end and your character dreamed he shot himself in the head...I almost wanted to ask to borrow the gun. But no...I'll live another day. I will check out your next film and hope you redeem yourself.

McCleary said you were brutal. I can be. I want you to hurt them.It's not just the fact that defenseless young children are victims of unscrupulous people who use them in networks for pedophiles. The most disgusting aspect of this is that these circuits are visited by people who occupy important positions in daily life. Individuals who show a respectable and neat appearance to the outside world. But once they show up in this nauseating business, their fortune is their entrance ticket so they can abuse these innocent children. Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is someone who wants to set things straight. Armed with a heavy hammer, he beats those perverts from their victims. But "You were never really here" is not just about the existence of children's networks. The film also tries to paint a picture of the person Joe who is daily tormented by his own demons.Every time Joe gets on screen, you just feel that heavy burden on his shoulders. He's suicidal and exposes a murderous resentment. And this because of a youth full of violence, which is sporadically portrayed in haunting flashbacks. But also because of his war record. His scarred upper torso is probably caused by these events. And perhaps mentally there are even more profound wounds. Hence his fatalistic attitude. A "Je mon fou" posture which makes him walk into a lion's den without hesitation. And as a result, he also carries out life-threatening or self-mutilating actions. Pulling a plastic bag over your head isn't exactly something normal functioning people do on a regular basis. It's clear that PTSD also has something to do with this.Are you expecting to see explicit violence? You'll be slightly disappointed. Violence is abundantly present but is always kept out of the picture in a strategic way. There are a modest number of bloody scenes, but predominantly the violent and repulsive images are kept out of sight. But don't doubt it. Joe is an aggressive and insensitive (At least at that level) disposer of persons of poor moral character who'll split the skull of these persons in two without hesitation. However, his last intervention sets an influential mechanism in motion where he himself threatens to become a victim.Perhaps for some, it's a tad too arty and the speed of the film a bit too slow. Yet Lynne Ramsay knows how to make a stylistic revenge film. The entire film is filled with dreamy (almost hallucinatory) fragments and perfectly framed snapshots. A child's voice counting down softly. The sinking of a human body into the water. A close up of dripping wet hair. Joe staring into the distance. The biggest part of the film is also filmed in a dark and murky set-up. Probably as dark as the deformed and pained spirit of Joe. The interpretation by Joaquin Phoenix is breathtaking. Maybe rough around the edges, but deep inside a softy. A man without too many words, with a raw personality and with an impressive beard. As he strolls through New York, he looks like a homeless bum on his way to the soup kitchen at some community center. In reality, he's a man with a well-defined mission."You were never really here" certainly doesn't belong in the list of boring uniformity that's lately being produced in Hollywood. The film is more a character study than simply a revenge film. It's the kind of film that gets under your skin. I was a fan of Joaquin Phoenix anyway, but because of his undeniably fantastic acting performance in this film, he rises a bit more into the leading group of actors who are unmatchable in terms of acting.

WARNING SPOILERS! You Were Never Really Here....nobody was anywhere. It was all over the place. What was with the back and forth flashbacks of Phoenix as a child? That was never explained. If the writer wanted to do a piece about human sex trafficking then do it-it needs to be addressed because the media won't talk about it. But this was a garbage piece that went in circles. This is why I do not go to the movies. Most films out of Hollyweird stink and this one reeks. It's not art - I don't know who thinks this movie is in any way art. Save your time and moola

What just happened? I kept thinking this movie was going to turn a corner, but it kept going....and going....and going....right off a cliff. It's was a wannabe John Wick meets Mrs Butterworth...yeah, it's takes its own sweet time and then it finally hits that you just got suckered out of 90 minutes of your life.