#but that doesn't even begin to cover what is really toxic with THAT setup

[yallemagne]

Every time I see someone claiming you can't ship Wolverine with anyone because of Wolverine's age, I'm just like "I think maybe you might be stupid. You should get that checked."

Age gaps are only toxic when they create a toxic power dynamic. Wolverine's age doesn't give him an advantage over grown adults because they have the same relative maturity. He doesn't lord his age over the people he has romances with. Honestly, I struggle to imagine how he could use his age to his advantage in a relationship because it's not like his maturity matches that of a theoretical 200+ person. He doesn't even act like, say, 100. Calling him a creep for having feelings for a thirty-year-old woman? You are the one being weird there, infantilizing a grown-ass person.

There's definitely some ships that I'd side-eye you for, but the problem with those isn't the numerical difference in years, it's the difference in maturity and the pre-existing dynamic between the characters. Younger characters he has taken a mentoring/parental role with? No-go. But see, I would have the same conviction if he were just 40.

[yt-playlists]

Comment by LiteraryBoner on Reddit

Talk about predictable endings. Five minutes into this movie I thought to myself, "I bet this ends with a cyclical quadruple male birth sequence" and wouldn't you know it. Garland is nothing if not predictable.

Obviously, I'm joking. This was a wild ride. I don't think it reaches the highs of his previous films (and DEVs) and it was interesting that this had zero sci-fi aspects, but as a psychological horror this was really something. The themes are something I'm going to be thinking about for a long time, but Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear are incredible and I was certainly never bored with it.

The pacing is probably going to be the biggest hurdle for the average filmgoer. After the setup there's a solid 10 minute sequence with no dialogue, and the movie does feel a bit longer than it is. The cherry on top, of course, is the classic 20 minute WTF ending that Garland showed an aptitude for with Annihilation. It wasn't an issue for me because this movie is still a tight 1h40m, but I could see some people being turned off by the pace.

Conceptually, there's a lot to unpack here. The obvious curious choice is that Rory Kinnear plays every man in this English countryside, something that is clearly not noticeable to our protagonist. So instantly I'm thinking this has more to do with what these men have in common rather than it just being some weird cesspool of inbreeding.

Each of the men seemed to display some sort of classic toxic trait, but also some sort of authority or excuse for being the way they are. The kid is just "troubled", the priest cares less about helping heal and more about being a creep, the cop doesn't see the harm in a naked stalker, and while Geoffrey seems perfectly nice the whole movie he is given away at the end when he violently pulls Harper from her car. It even feels very personal when he tries to run her over, trying to exact the eye for an eye rule on her even though hers was an accident.

It's hard to pin down exactly what it all meant without repeat viewings. But once the arm injury came into play in that horrifying sequence you notice that every Kinnear character now has that injury, which to me didn't exactly mean that they are all the same character, but rather they all have similar toxic thoughts about women, or this woman, however they cover them up. This kind of comes full circle when it's revealed that her dead husband had the same injuries from his fall.

There's also tons of Adam and Eve allegory here. Obviously the "forbidden fruit" moment from the trailer, but the cop also names the naked stalker as Adam at the bar. And at the beginning of that scene Geoffrey is trying to do a crossword and the word he was searching for was "pomegranate", which is widely believed to have been the actual forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Also worth mentioning that when Adam first makes it into her garden, we see him examining the branch she picked the apple from. Perhaps what made him choose her as a victim.

I'm not sure this was aimed at religion as a whole, but more the idea that every man has a woman made for them, which is a basis of that story. At the end we find out that all the husband's violence revolves around just wanting her to love him, and not caring to understand that that's not an option. To me, this movie becomes about the entitlement of men and how much they don't care to consider the feelings of the target of their affection.

The cyclical birth scene, while being perfectly Garland and a very Suspiria-esque wild way to end thiss movie, seems to tell me exactly that. That these issues are cyclical, that they are still an issue because this community of men all kept letting it happen instead of trying to keep the naked stalker arrested or actually explaining to the child that just because a woman doesn't want to take part in your fun doesn't make her a stupid bitch.

Anyways, that's what I got out of it. I'd love to hear other thoughts about all this. Overall, I'd give this a solid 7/10. It could be an 8/10 on repeat viewings, but I really think the pacing was a bit off in the first half.

/r/reviewsbyboner

Nucking futs. But the way we think isnt random. We look and find patterns easily. This is how to be in life. Enjoy it and the movie. Wow the details thoo