Ryan S Rogers

I absolutely love the opening shot of this movie. The slow pan down across the dark New Mexican landscape to the bright lights of a seedy looking gym. It last the exact right amount of time to give you a feel for the place you're about to enter without overstaying its welcome. It somehow stays just as beautifully shot as it moves into Kristen Stewart elbow deep into a shit clogged toilet.

Every member of the cast plays their role amazingly. Jena Malone and Dave Franco make me hate them so well. The two main characters, despite doing some extraordinary things, have such a believable chemistry between them. Stewart really sells a woman falling in love, and all the complications that brings with their situation. Ed Harris stands out as such a perfectly creepy villain. His sinisterness is enhanced so well by the little glimpses of a paternal drive and compassion completely warped by his brutality.

You can certainly tell that the director's last movie was a horror movie. There is some gross and gory content in this, but it's handled so well as to be shocking, but not gratuitous, even as it lingers on the brutal images.

It was also fun to see some more abstraction and surrealism in a more serious movie like this. It's been a while since I've had a good "What did I just see?" moment in a theatrical release.