As August draws to a close, so does the summer season, and the whole thing is ending with just one movie hitting the big screen in wide release – and it could be a clunker. Get ready for Don’t Let Go.
Just remember, I’m not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they’ll end up on the Tomatometer. Let’s take a look at This Rotten Week has to offer.
Your niece and her family are brutally murdered, which isn’t great for sure. But then you get a call from her… from the past before she was killed. Now it’s a race against time to save her from her future, which is your past. Confused? Me too. The premise of Don’t Let Go seems patently ridiculous, and I typically give these kinds of movies a lot of leeway. But this one just appears so silly that whatever happens next doesn’t even matter.
There are some early reviews in already, as the movie premiered at the start of the year at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Tomatometer is currently sitting at 47%. I suspect that score to drop over the course of the week. Director Jacob Estes was a screenwriter on the stinker Rings (8%), and while Don’t Let Go won’t finish in the basement, it sure doesn’t look good.
These end-of-summer releases are usually stashed away and released without much fanfare as folks finish up their vacations and stay away from the theaters. It also doesn’t help that principal photography started on this movie more than two-and-a-half years ago. So it’s been hanging around awhile. That’s rarely ever a good sign. And I don’t expect critics will ultimately react well to it.
I went two for three last time around, though admittedly one of those flicks had a bunch of reviews in at the time of post so it’s tough to take full credit. Angel Has Fallen (Predicted: 37% Actual: 39%) was nearly right on the money, and could end up there with a few more negative reviews. The third in the franchise fell right between the other two previously realsed titles, with Olympus Has Fallen (49%) and London Has Fallen (26%). Most critics just thought it overly violent and cliched without much of a plot.
Meanwhile, Overcomer (Predicted: 25% Actual: 38%) was a miss, but I did have the tone of the reviews mostly correct. Additionally, Rotten Tomatoes only aggregated eight total reviews for this movie, meaning just one more negative look would have it at 33% and make it a win. I’m holding out hope one or two more negative reviews come in and we’ll call this sappy, religious movie a predictive win.
And finally, Ready Or Not (Predicted: 90% Actual: 87%), as mentioned before, had a bunch of reviews already in so it was pretty easy to get this one in range. The horror flick/dark comedy was a complete hit with critics. They loved Samara Weaving in the lead role and thought the mix of gore, laughs and commentary were awesome.
Next time we’ve got It: Chapter 2. It’s gonna be a Rotten Week!