I See You follows a family (a detective father, a counselor mother, and their high school student son) as they navigate the tension of infidelity in the marriage, a serial killer in the town, and strange happenings within their house.
I See You Review
Despite good acting and an inevitably unique conclusion, I See You lacks the punch to make it a powerful product. Its plodding pace makes it drag in long waves throughout, but it manages to keep your attention because you know something is coming.
The first "something" is halfway through the movie. The twist feels like something you'd see a film close with, but instead it's midway through the movie, and you realize that this particular twist is going to drag you scene-by-scene through everything you've already witnessed at the same pace as the first half. It makes you thankful for the Saw films that montage the reveals in the waning moments of the climax rather than impressed by the layers of storytelling. You eventually reach a low point in which you just want to fast-forward to the point in which you're all caught up, but you know doing that will lead to missing an important detail, which does eventually make itself known.
You expect the unexpected second twist, and when it comes it makes the entirety of the film worth the watch. The nice, tidy bow wraps together wonderfully the characters brought to the screen, but unlike other films of a similar ilk that manage to make the reward worth the journey, I See You still feels like it's missing something. Perhaps the blame can be pinpointed solely on the directing and editing not properly establishing the proper highs and lows, or perhaps it was doomed from the beginning, often times feeling like it could have benefited from a drawn-out, streaming service episodic approach. It requires more patience, yes, but then we could dive even deeper into these characters and truly let them simmer amidst one another.
This film relies heavily on its twists to carry the narrative, and said twists struggle at times to do so. The acting is decent throughout and I found that the score did a particularly good job of engaging my attention despite the slow pacing. Yet, there's a dynamic element missing that I can't quite narrow down that leaves me wanting. By the film's credits, I was glad I watched it for the interesting story, but it still felt like so much of the runtime was wasted overcooking its plot points.
Perhaps it was the relief that it was finally over and I could get that last twist over with. Or maybe it was a better story than I give it credit for. It feels like a movie worth recommending you decide for yourself. You can find it on Amazon Prime Video right now.
Horror Rating System
Horror Qualifier: 6/10
Horror Quality: 2/10
Film Quality: 6/10