Demolition

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Jonathan K I'm not really sure what I just watched, and I’m still wondering why I had it in my queue considering the reviews are mid. Maybe it's just the Jake effect... and he’s very good here, very committed, but I was confused by his character for most, if not all, of the movie. The way they portray him makes you wonder if he's autistic, or dealing with some other condition, or veering into sociopathic detachment. The whole time I kept wondering if this was supposed to be grief, or something else entirely. You get a bit of clarity at the end, which helps redeem it a little, but not enough to make the rest of it make sense. The tone of the ending feels mismatched with the oddity of the majority of the film, how strange his character is, and how strange Naomi Watts' character is as well. Ultimately, I don’t think it works, and I think it hinges on a script mistake: they needed to give more backstory and context about the marriage. Keeping so much of that in the dark until the end, and barely offering any insight into his wife or their dynamic, leaves you thinking he's simply emotionally detached, unfeeling, and kind of an asshole. It's hard to empathize with or understand where his erratic, unconventional behavior is coming from. Had the writers shown more of what we're eventually meant to understand -- that the relationship was shallow, that he didn’t feel like he even knew her -- those details would have helped the audience process his character instead of just watching whatever all that was. And when the movie tries to pivot into sentimentality at the end, it feels unearned. You can't be weird, dark, and opaque about basic relationship dynamics for the whole film and then steer into a soft landing. The only part of that final stretch that sorta works is Jake's acting. He almost sells that pivot; the script surely doesn't. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/17/25 Full Review THE K nose, simplemente no es para mi, es una película muuuuy rara, muy callada, casi SIN sountrack, toda la película es muy silenciosa, no quiero decir aburrida, simplemente es "arte" muuy entre comillas que algunos quieren pero yo no Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 10/07/25 Full Review Julie D if you're looking for a really strong Jake Gyllenhaal performance and a few good laughs here and there, then give it a go. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/02/25 Full Review Robert O i thought this movie was great. no way it deserves the rating they gave it. they haven't known grief obviously Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/14/25 Full Review Alyxia E Some of the critics seem to have missed the point entirely, or to have bailed out and not given the film their attention all the way through. I can't write the essay I'd like to, moreover, doing so would almost seem like an affront to the artful and myriad methods this film used to make some beautiful points about the human condition, the human experience, and the social experiences of humans. If you catch yourself inclined to get hung up on anything you notice, my advice is to let it go and keep watching with an open mind. You might then notice something you could have missed. And you might find that rewarding. [5+5 for the film + music and how it served the film and credits] Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/07/25 Full Review Caleb L. I was teetering between 3.5 and 4 for most of the movie but I think the ending really pushes this over the edge to a 4.  Great acting by everyone involved and I think the story meets a natural end. It’s a great life crisis movie. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/29/25 Full Review Read all reviews

Demolition

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