Somewhere out there I imagine a director and screenwriter high-fiving, confident in the delusion they’ve crafted a film that makes sense. It is a shame, as there could be a lot to appreciate here. Based on the history of the RMS Queen Mary, both as a luxury liner and tourist trap, the film makes decent use of the setting to tell parallel horrific events across the span of decades. Initially things present well, with a shocking opening, excellent transitions between past and present events, copious amounts of gore, unsettling specters, glossy production values and a cast acting with the conviction they are in a far better film. Unfortunately the good aspects quickly give way to bafflement as the script twists and swerves into the nonsensical. I understand evoking a sense of bewilderment, to mirror the trials of the characters, but much of the logic breaks down and little makes sense.They keep introducing new characters and new twists into the plot that this already overloaded, stuffed and approaching incomprehensible. In the same vein, as the movie progresses the editing becomes more choppy and disjointed, the shots darker and more indecipherable, and the quality for the entire entire film systemically plummets. What starts as engaging and riveting quickly devolves into a waste of budget, actors, and the viewer’s time.
Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023)