*My review of Slice was originally published on Film Inquiry. Click here to read the original post and check out more great reviews from this awesome site!*
If you haven't kept up on the buzz surrounding Slice, all you really need to know is that it's a movie featuring Chance the Rapper as a werewolf who also happens to be a Chinese food delivery guy. Fun idea, right? Director Austin Vesely's debut film is set in Kingfisher, a town where ghosts walk alongside humans, creating an entire geo-political ecosystem based on the relationship between everyday people and the supernatural. It's a wicked mystery noir that has already earned comparisons to Stranger Things, and it hails from A24, the tastemaker studio with a reputation for keeping up with the hottest trends in indie cinema.
It's also really, really boring.
In a way, this isn't much of a surprise. A24 has been sitting on this film for what feels like ages, and it's telling that they opted for a surprise VOD dump over a festival run and a theatrical release. If you can't turn a film with Chance the Rapper, Zazie Beetz, and Joe Keery into even a minor box office success, that's.....concerning. Slice's pulp concept starts on the right foot, but as the mystery deepens and the conspiracy grows, writer/director Vesely struggles to keep the ship afloat. Eventually, it's all too apparent that nothing here really works. Even at 82-minutes, much of the film feels like wheel-spinning.
Let's talk about Kingfisher again for a moment. Our story begins with the murder of Sean (played by Vesely himself), an anonymous delivery driver for Perfect Pizza Base. Who killed the poor pizza boy? Nobody knows yet, but a team of talented experts are on the case. A couple of hapless detectives are assigned to find Sean's murderer, only for Kingfisher Chronicle reporter Sadie Sheridan (Rae Gray) to steal their thunder. But the real investigate work begins when Astrid (Zazie Beetz), a former Perfect Pizza delivery driver and Sean's ex-boyfriend, gets involved.
Astrid remembers the legendary tale of a werewolf named Dax Lycander (Chance the Rapper), who was once accused of killing multiple delivery drivers at a Chinese restaurant in Kingfisher. Word on the street is that Dax has returned to the sleepy town, and he's out for blood once again. Soon enough, the violence spreads, putting everyone at Perfect Pizza on edge.
But wait, there's more. Pay close attention to Vera (Marilyn Dodds Frank), an activist who has secretly struck a deal with Mayor Tracy (Chris Parnell). What is Vera's goal? Why has she made a deal with the Mayor of Kingfisher? Is she the head of a coven of witches seeking to open a gateway to hell? That's Sadie's theory, and she just might be right. If it seems to unbelievable to be true, well, you'll get used to it in Kingfisher.
Even though its story makes perfect sense and its world-building is crystal clear, Slice is such a confounding movie on nearly every level. It's confounding not because the internal logic is out of wack, but because it's simply difficult to comprehend how an idea this inspired could turn out to be so dull. This concept is practically tailor-made for my own tastes, and yet I felt an acute sense of despair as each scene left me more and more disinterested in the proceedings.
Aesthetically, Slice is something of an achievement. The shocking initial murder is followed up by a wonderfully kooky opening credits sequence, which seems to announce this film as a journey into the land of the macabre. This is basically a cross between the clever tropes of a classic horror comedy and the gonzo excess of 1980s genre movies (think Big Trouble in Little China and Ghostbusters), and it's fun to watch Vesely establish this world from the ground up. The filmmaker and cinematographer Brandon Riley have a blast making Kingfisher seem as original as possible, a labyrinth of old-fashioned advertisements and subtly spooky fogginess.
So I ask again, how on earth does all of this end up being so amazingly sluggish? If I was reading that description, I would probably go buy a ticket to this movie immediately.
I'll do my best to explain. On a scene-to-scene basis, Slice has that distinctly unsettling feeling of awkwardness, the kind that just lets you know something is off. Characters are talking to each other, but the dialogue feels flat and lifeless, like a pale imitation of how people actually speak. And the film basically grinds to a halt, driven forward only by a mystery that isn't all that exciting in the first place.
The energetic thrill of the film's opening sustains it for a while, but around the halfway point, a creeping sense of boredom began to permeate my brain. I thought to myself, "Is it just me or is this thing not going anywhere?" For a film that falls just shy of 80-minutes before credits, Slice moves like molasses, doling out little bits of plot information at an unhurried pace. To be honest, I think Vesely bit off more than he could chew with the sheer number of characters and subplots, assembling an impressive ensemble of talent with little to show for it.
Yes, the cast is certainly star-studded, but they're left in the wilderness with nothing to do. Zazie Beetz was the standout in Deadpool 2, and yet she struggles to make Astrid a complex and compelling character. The list of additional supporting players includes Stranger Things breakout Joe Keery and The First Purge star Y'Ian Noel, but their talents are wasted on one-dimensional characters and the briefest of roles.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Slice is just how lame it feels as a debut for Chance the Rapper. Billed as Chance Bennett, the charismatic and funny rap icon is miscast and underutilized as a werewolf patsy who just wants to be like you and me. Bennett's Dax Lycander isn't particularly clever or fun to watch; in fact, he's more of a stoic, "man of mystery" type. Dax doesn't even officially arrive until well into the second half of the film, and his arrival is mostly underwhelming. Seriously, who thought it was a great idea to have the rap game's most charming star play such a tedious character?
After pushing things along at a snail's pace for much of the running time, Slice eventually ties up its loose ends with as little fuss as possible. The film actually ends with its funniest sequence, generating a few laughs from a fake pizza ad that revels in its active terribleness. Slice is always playing around in a slightly tongue-in-cheek key, but it's hard not to think it would be far more successful if Vesely played up the humor just a bit more.
Trust me, I wish I could report that Slice is an unabashedly silly horror success. I can't oversell my enthusiasm after watching the aforementioned opening credits sequence, which sets the perfect tone, partially thanks to Nathan Matthew David and Ludwig Göransson's terrific score. Vesely has a knack for establishing mood and tone, but when it's time to add a story to that stylish aesthetic, Slice falls short of the mark.
On a side note, I saw two movies featuring a gateway to hell in the span of 24 hours (The Nun being the other). I guess that's the new trend in Hollywood.
And yet both movies ended up being shockingly tedious. How odd.
THE FINAL GRADE: C- (4.6/10)
Images courtesy of A24
If you haven't kept up on the buzz surrounding Slice, all you really need to know is that it's a movie featuring Chance the Rapper as a werewolf who also happens to be a Chinese food delivery guy. Fun idea, right? Director Austin Vesely's debut film is set in Kingfisher, a town where ghosts walk alongside humans, creating an entire geo-political ecosystem based on the relationship between everyday people and the supernatural. It's a wicked mystery noir that has already earned comparisons to Stranger Things, and it hails from A24, the tastemaker studio with a reputation for keeping up with the hottest trends in indie cinema.
It's also really, really boring.
In a way, this isn't much of a surprise. A24 has been sitting on this film for what feels like ages, and it's telling that they opted for a surprise VOD dump over a festival run and a theatrical release. If you can't turn a film with Chance the Rapper, Zazie Beetz, and Joe Keery into even a minor box office success, that's.....concerning. Slice's pulp concept starts on the right foot, but as the mystery deepens and the conspiracy grows, writer/director Vesely struggles to keep the ship afloat. Eventually, it's all too apparent that nothing here really works. Even at 82-minutes, much of the film feels like wheel-spinning.
Let's talk about Kingfisher again for a moment. Our story begins with the murder of Sean (played by Vesely himself), an anonymous delivery driver for Perfect Pizza Base. Who killed the poor pizza boy? Nobody knows yet, but a team of talented experts are on the case. A couple of hapless detectives are assigned to find Sean's murderer, only for Kingfisher Chronicle reporter Sadie Sheridan (Rae Gray) to steal their thunder. But the real investigate work begins when Astrid (Zazie Beetz), a former Perfect Pizza delivery driver and Sean's ex-boyfriend, gets involved.
Astrid remembers the legendary tale of a werewolf named Dax Lycander (Chance the Rapper), who was once accused of killing multiple delivery drivers at a Chinese restaurant in Kingfisher. Word on the street is that Dax has returned to the sleepy town, and he's out for blood once again. Soon enough, the violence spreads, putting everyone at Perfect Pizza on edge.
But wait, there's more. Pay close attention to Vera (Marilyn Dodds Frank), an activist who has secretly struck a deal with Mayor Tracy (Chris Parnell). What is Vera's goal? Why has she made a deal with the Mayor of Kingfisher? Is she the head of a coven of witches seeking to open a gateway to hell? That's Sadie's theory, and she just might be right. If it seems to unbelievable to be true, well, you'll get used to it in Kingfisher.
Even though its story makes perfect sense and its world-building is crystal clear, Slice is such a confounding movie on nearly every level. It's confounding not because the internal logic is out of wack, but because it's simply difficult to comprehend how an idea this inspired could turn out to be so dull. This concept is practically tailor-made for my own tastes, and yet I felt an acute sense of despair as each scene left me more and more disinterested in the proceedings.
Aesthetically, Slice is something of an achievement. The shocking initial murder is followed up by a wonderfully kooky opening credits sequence, which seems to announce this film as a journey into the land of the macabre. This is basically a cross between the clever tropes of a classic horror comedy and the gonzo excess of 1980s genre movies (think Big Trouble in Little China and Ghostbusters), and it's fun to watch Vesely establish this world from the ground up. The filmmaker and cinematographer Brandon Riley have a blast making Kingfisher seem as original as possible, a labyrinth of old-fashioned advertisements and subtly spooky fogginess.
So I ask again, how on earth does all of this end up being so amazingly sluggish? If I was reading that description, I would probably go buy a ticket to this movie immediately.
I'll do my best to explain. On a scene-to-scene basis, Slice has that distinctly unsettling feeling of awkwardness, the kind that just lets you know something is off. Characters are talking to each other, but the dialogue feels flat and lifeless, like a pale imitation of how people actually speak. And the film basically grinds to a halt, driven forward only by a mystery that isn't all that exciting in the first place.
The energetic thrill of the film's opening sustains it for a while, but around the halfway point, a creeping sense of boredom began to permeate my brain. I thought to myself, "Is it just me or is this thing not going anywhere?" For a film that falls just shy of 80-minutes before credits, Slice moves like molasses, doling out little bits of plot information at an unhurried pace. To be honest, I think Vesely bit off more than he could chew with the sheer number of characters and subplots, assembling an impressive ensemble of talent with little to show for it.
Yes, the cast is certainly star-studded, but they're left in the wilderness with nothing to do. Zazie Beetz was the standout in Deadpool 2, and yet she struggles to make Astrid a complex and compelling character. The list of additional supporting players includes Stranger Things breakout Joe Keery and The First Purge star Y'Ian Noel, but their talents are wasted on one-dimensional characters and the briefest of roles.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of Slice is just how lame it feels as a debut for Chance the Rapper. Billed as Chance Bennett, the charismatic and funny rap icon is miscast and underutilized as a werewolf patsy who just wants to be like you and me. Bennett's Dax Lycander isn't particularly clever or fun to watch; in fact, he's more of a stoic, "man of mystery" type. Dax doesn't even officially arrive until well into the second half of the film, and his arrival is mostly underwhelming. Seriously, who thought it was a great idea to have the rap game's most charming star play such a tedious character?
After pushing things along at a snail's pace for much of the running time, Slice eventually ties up its loose ends with as little fuss as possible. The film actually ends with its funniest sequence, generating a few laughs from a fake pizza ad that revels in its active terribleness. Slice is always playing around in a slightly tongue-in-cheek key, but it's hard not to think it would be far more successful if Vesely played up the humor just a bit more.
Trust me, I wish I could report that Slice is an unabashedly silly horror success. I can't oversell my enthusiasm after watching the aforementioned opening credits sequence, which sets the perfect tone, partially thanks to Nathan Matthew David and Ludwig Göransson's terrific score. Vesely has a knack for establishing mood and tone, but when it's time to add a story to that stylish aesthetic, Slice falls short of the mark.
On a side note, I saw two movies featuring a gateway to hell in the span of 24 hours (The Nun being the other). I guess that's the new trend in Hollywood.
And yet both movies ended up being shockingly tedious. How odd.
THE FINAL GRADE: C- (4.6/10)
Images courtesy of A24
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