Boston Strangler is a competent thriller with social gravity. Ideas of sexism, bureaucracy, and publicity are explored, highlighting how societal structures seek convenient results. It shows how dedication to justice can require personal sacrifices. The acting offers shock, crying, terror, and determination. Still, despite a base of engaging substance, Boston Strangler lacks immediate relatability. Characters are underwritten and community impact is rarely depicted, obscuring intimacy and messages. Instead, the film prioritizes its unfolding case, which is informative but cold. Overall, Boston Strangler's themes, story, and performances are dampened by its dry approach.
Technically, Boston Strangler is reserved. Its visuals utilize moody lighting, steady movement, composition, focus, framing, angles, and bleak colors. The slow-burn editing uses fades, inserts, match cuts, intercuts, montages, and slo-mo. Its sound adds split cuts, intense offscreens, symbolic diegetics, voiceovers, quiet, muffling, emphasis, echoes, and smash cuts. The production design creates an era but feels confined. Its casting pairs skilled supporters with Knightly, but lacks star power. The minimal effects are evocative and the music is atmospheric. Ultimately, Boston Strangler is fitting and weighty, but its conservative filmmaking and emotions limit its accessibility.
Writing: 7/10
Direction: 6/10
Cinematography: 8/10
Acting: 7/10
Editing: 7/10
Sound: 8/10
Score/Soundtrack: 7/10
Production Design: 8/10
Casting: 6/10
Effects: 6/10
Overall Score: 7.0/10
Comments