Citadel

An Atmospheric Irish Chiller That Creates A Creepy Mood And Has A Stellar Lead Performance
There are a lot of really great things going for the low-budget indie shocker "Citadel." This Irish film starts out strong, boasts a solid lead performance, and paints a harrowing portrait of urban decay. While the picture is very successful at creating a creepy vibe which it sustains throughout, I'm not sure that the mythology or storytelling is quite as strong as its atmosphere. In the end, I enjoyed much of the movie without really ever buying into its premise fully. And although the plot threads are deadly serious, I found some of the developments rather amusing as opposed to horrifying. In the end, I think "Citadel" is worth a look but I wanted its payoff and its explanations to be better realized. It's certainly not a bad movie, I just don't think it makes much sense in the grand scheme of things.

As I said, I really invested into the opening of the film. As a young couple is moving from a dilapidated building, a gang of street thugs happens upon the pregnant...

No logical explanation
I am assuming this movie is saturated with metaphors (or perhaps I am giving the writers to much credit), regardless, for the most part the nuances are so vague that I cannot come to any conclusion. The acting and cinematography was excellent. The scenery had such a deep feeling of misery, hopelessness and pain that I started to feel it myself. I got a sense of release for the father's agoraphobia in the end, but with no clear answers as to how the boy fit into it. It was such an abrupt ending that I felt cheated. I am seeing a trend with movies being overly subtle in their message for the sake of "artsiness", this is a disservice to most movie goers and in the end you end up with a piece that essentially means nothing to anyone but the creators themselves.

Inspired Main Performance Not Enough To Save This CITADEL
Another week, another horror release. Isn't that the way it seems these days? Why, every time you turn around, some production company is throwing good money into some low-budget, no-budget scare-fest, all to make a buck. I welcome the additions to my film library only so long as these pictures still come assembled with a coherent story, reasonably intelligent characters (a tough find in horror), and modest quality writing. No, horror movies don't have to be perfect. They simply need establish a premise and then deliver on any promises made along the way.

To that end, CITADEL settles comfortably into a middle-ground and goes nowhere fast. Yes, it's atmospheric. Sure, it's creepy. Okay, it looks so dystopian.

But is that all ya got?

(NOTE: the following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and characters. If you're the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I'd encourage you to...

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