Green Room (2016) - SPOILER-FREE Review

Editor’s Note: this is an old, unformatted, unedited review. The author’s opinion might not match the original thoughts written in this article.

Directed by: Jeremy Saulnier

Starring: Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Mark Webber, Macon Blair, Eric Edekstein, Joe Cole

Runtime: 94 min

Green Room tells the story about a band that decides to perform at a neo-Nazi bar (good idea) and after they witness a murder, they are locked in a green room by the orders of the neo-Nazi's boss (Darcy), portrayed by Patrick Stewart.

From that moment until the end, it's a disturbing and suspenseful movie, with the most captivating and intriguing plot of the year. This film has moments where I was almost unable to see some things ... How cool is that?! This disgusting type of suspense is so well placed in the movie because it needed to be like that, so it turned out to be a really amazing achievement in directing.

For the first time ever, not caring about the characters wasn't a problem for me. The band's members are really stupid, they are that cliché-type of innocent people doing the dumbest things possible. You don't want the whole band to be murdered in cold blood, but you don't really root for anyone. The director already assumed that he's doing an "inept protagonist" series, where the main actors portray stupid people that make bad decisions and they will have to suffer the consequences. Not sure if I should feel disappointing or just ok with it.

The continuous suspense kept me on edge all the time and that is also due to two amazing performances: Patrick Stewart as Darcy and Anton Yelchin as Pat are really great. Now, I have a problem with Patrick Stewart and with the time that his character has in the movie: he's not well utilized, he doesn't have THE scene where I'd be so fascinated that I'd re-watch it a thousand times. He is so intriguing and so captivating that I just wish I could have seen more from him. Also, the mystery throughout the movie ("red laces") and the constant twists increase the suspense so much that keeps me on my toes until the end.

Green Room is a great film, it's suspenseful, has great performances, but it could have had smarter (or not that dumb) protagonists and it should have had more of Patrick Stewart's character.