A thriller that leaves a lot to be desired, Dark Crimes fails to deliver.
Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber) plays Tadek, a Polish detective that reopens a cold case after discovering similarities between the victims murder and a recent novel. Portrayed by Marton Csokas (The Lord of the Rings, xXx), author Krystov Kozlow becomes the prime suspect, but theres plenty of mystery surrounding his involvement in the case.
The film starts out extremely in-your-face with opening shots of immense violence occurring in a sex club. This seems to set the tone for a very dark storyline. However, the film never really seems to find its footing while delivering little-to-no excitement.
While the concept and storyline follows most crime dramas, I was intrigued by the films setting being in Poland. This only created parody in my opinion. I feel Carrey gave a pretty solid performance, even though he’s famous for his comedy, but it’s hard to look past the bad Polish accent.
Csokas does deliver a chilling performance as Kozlow. His piercing eyes make you feel like he’s planned every possible way to cause someone harm. His demeanor throughout the film has the audience convinced from the beginning that he is behind the crime. Charlotte Gainsbourg (21 Grams, Independence Day: Resurgence) does a solid job portraying prostitute and single mother Kasia.
Overall, the film lacks excitement. I had high hopes that at some point the film would find its way and hook my interest, but it never happened. At no point was there a “oh my gosh” moment or one that felt like the payoff for watching. Putting the bad Polish accents aside, the acting was pretty solid with intriguing characters. Fans of crime dramas may find more to like about this film, but for me it was very average at best.
Dark Crimes will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on July 31, 2018.
