I am pretty sure it isn’t much of a shock to say a good chunk of Netflix films aren’t particularly good since a lot of their original films are obtained just for content rather than quality. Still, I always hope I find the rare gem among the bulk of forgettable films dumped on the streaming service. After reading the description of “In the Shadow of the Moon” and seeing the cast, I had high hopes that this film might possibly be one of those rare gems but there was only one way for me to find out so I started watching it and ended up wanting to discuss this film more than I thought I would.
The film starts off in 1988 and follows Officers Lockhart and Maddox as they discover a possible link between a few strange deaths one night. When the toxicology report seemingly can’t identify the chemical that caused their deaths and all the victims having the same pattern mark on their necks, the police department officially declares the deceased to be murder victims and quickly gets a lead on the killer. After Officers Lockhart and Maddox happen upon the suspect and give chase, only Lockhart is able to keep up as she tries to escape at a train station. After Lockhart attempts to detain the mysterious woman, she jumps in front of a train and kills herself. Nine years later, the police department gets a tip on a copycat killer and Detectives Lockhart and Maddox now take point on the case. When Lockhart confronts the copycat, his world is turned upside down when he discovers that the copycat killer isn’t a copycat at all, she is the same killer who committed suicide nine years earlier. Lockhart must now discover how any of this is possible while trying to catch this murderer all over again.
Needless to say, the premise of this film is super interesting so it is easy to see how it got me hooked. Perhaps I should have thought logically and wondered why it wasn’t picked up by a major studio because it unfortunately didn’t turn out too good despite an interesting premise. To be fair, I feel like it would be near impossible for any film to live up to the story set up in the film.
::Possible Spoilers:: This film deals with time travel (which I am sure is easy to guess) and the film has a lot of tonal issues as a result. The film tries too hard to stay a police drama even after the element of time travel is thrown in. It is difficult to balance the science fiction elements of the story when the movie tries so hard to be taken seriously. I know the filmmakers probably hoped that the heightened drama would make the time travel ‘twist’ more shocking, but time travel is sort of setup from the first scene so I am not exactly sure what the filmmakers were thinking on that front. The film was just executed poorly in my opinion which is a shame because it had a lot of potential.
The film sometimes looked very beautiful with interesting camera angles and mesmerizingly shot scenes. Then there are other times the film has a very made for television feel. Much like the Netflix film “The Dirt”, it feels as if the production ran low on (or out of) money as the film neared the end of it’s production.
The movie was carried by Boyd Holbrook and he did a pretty good job with what he was given. I have never been a huge Holbrook fan but if this movie is successful of anything, it succeeded in making me realize how gifted Boyd Holbrook can be as an actor. I have to admit I was disappointed by Michael C. Hall in the movie. I loved his work in “Dexter” and “Six Feet Under” but felt like he was completely wasted in this film. I hope he at least got a decent check.
This film proved to ultimately be disappointing but no worse than a lot of other Netflix ‘originals’. It is just a shame this film turned out to be so forgettable despite it potential.
Grade: D
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