THE GIRL WHO GOT AWAY

 

THE GIRL WHO GOT AWAY : B- 

THE GIRL WHO GOT AWAY could have been a straight forward film told in that of 90 minutes that would have given its audience a satisfying conclusion. Instead it threw on an extra 30 minutes of unnecessary twists and turns that as a result hurt the film's overall presentation. Had it been a straight up victim Vs torturer narrative, it would have eliminated the ambiguity and confusion while adding a sense of vengeance from a heroine that so many claim Hollywood lacks and is in desperate need of.  The story was strong & I just can't help but think that in this particular case revision may have been more of a burden than it was an attribute. The twists and turns seemed added and contrived, like that from a producer more so than that of a writer or a director. To reiterate, the film just did not need all of the extras. Had the story went with the one twist involving the older sheriff & stopped trying to top it with ridiculous twists for nothing more than "shock value" the story would have benefited. 

The performances were good. Lexi Johnson did a good of playing a straight up schizophrenic damaged from years of abuse and torture.  Chukwudi Iwuji as the investigative police officer also did a very good job. Overall all of the performances were fairly top notch. Nothing to complain about here.  

There were scenes that made no sense and left you with nothing but questions. These didn't help the film at all either. 

A story was here and furthermore a good story, but unfortunately as the old saying goes, "Don't try to fix something that isn't broken."  Nothing was broken here & they took the hammer, the nails and screw gun and "fixed" the ever lovin' Hell out of it.