It's a Wonderful Knife (2023) Review

 "Last Christmas still haunts me."
-Winnie Carruthers



A year after stopping the killing spree of a psychotic masked killer, Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) hasn't fully recovered, but the rest of the town seems to have moved on.  Despondent and depressed, Winnie believes everyone would be better off if she never existed.  Soon, Winnie finds herself in a world where she never existed and no one else stopped the killer.  Now a stranger in her own town, Winnie has to find a way to stop the killer again and take back her life.


What Works:

I love the premise of this movie.  I've been really enjoying the recent trend of retelling classic movies, but throwing in a slasher villain.  Happy Death Day and Freaky are both awesome and It's a Wonderful Knife fits under the same umbrella.  While this movie has flaws, and a lot of them, I still enjoyed the concept and story enough that I was entertained the entire way through.  I really hope we get more movies like this.

Winnie is an excellent protagonist and very relatable.  Jane Widdop does a great job in the role.  After the opening sequences killings, we cut to a year later and we see that Winnie's family and the town have moved on, but Winnie hasn't.  The movie does a great job of putting you in Winnie's headspace and its very frustrating to see things from Winnie's perspective, but that's how the movie wants you to feel.  That section of the film really works for me.

Justin Long is phenomenal as Henry Waters, the town's most prominent businessman.  He's so smarmy and cartoonish that you can't help but hate him.  It's Justin Long, so he manages to be charming and endearing in his own way, but Henry Waters sucks and Long makes him easy to despise.


What Sucks:

The biggest problem with the movie is the writing.  The script is messy and feels like a first draft.  A few more passes would have been good.  A lot of the dialogue needed work and scenes needed to be fleshed out more.

On the same note, the beginning of the movie introduces us to a lot of characters, but most of them are skimmed over and some aren't properly introduced.  I didn't even realize that one of the characters was Winnie's boyfriend until much later.  It's rushed.  A few more early scenes establishing these characters were definitely needed.

Finally, I don't think the movie does enough with its premise.  The movie has some fun with no one knowing Winnie for a while, but we move away from that and focus on the relationship between Winnie and Bernie (Jess McLeod).  I like their dynamic and that's fine, but the movie kinda forgets what it is for awhile.  Some more Christmas murder-sequences would have been fun.


Verdict:

It's a Wonderful Life has a great premise and good performances from Widdop and Long, but the execution is definitely lacking overall.  The script is a mess, most of the characters are poorly developed, and it doesn't do enough with its premise.  It's entertaining, but could have been much better.

 6/10: Okay 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more