Watch Night Moves For Free

Good concept, poorly executed.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Three eco-terrorists, Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning), and Harmon (Peter Saarsgaard), are tired of just talking about the environment, so they decide to blow up a dam in Oregon. After they blow up the dam, it becomes clear that their idealistic act was naïve and worthless. Their friends, unaware that Josh, Dena, and Harmon were the ones who blew the dam up, dismiss the whole thing as theater, because the river has twelve dams, so nothing has been accomplished.As the movie progressed, it became clear that we would not see the dam being blown up. This was probably for two reasons. First, there are budgetary considerations. One gets the feeling that this is a low- budget feature, and it is simply cheaper to hear the sound of the explosion as they drive away from the river rather than film a spectacle. It reminded me of a guy I knew who was much younger than I and therefore used to modern movies. He was complaining about an old movie he saw once, and I quickly realized he was talking about "They Live by Night" (1948). He said, "These guys are planning a bank robbery, and the next thing you know, they are driving down the road listening to a news report of the bank robbery on the radio. Today, the bank robbery would be the main part of the movie." But this was a low-budget film noir, and hearing about the bank robbery they just pulled off must have been cheaper than actually filming it.However, there was something about the style and tone of the movie that also made one suspect there would be no grand spectacular scene of the dam bursting, water pouring through the valley, tossing boats and cars every which way, and people screaming as they are pulled under the current. In fact, it is part of the basic idea of this movie that Josh and Dena never really thought things through, that it would be impossible to blow up a dam without someone being killed. They find out, as is appropriate for a story about guilt and paranoia, that someone has died when we do, when they read about it in the newspaper. And the fact that it is just one person rather than scores was good too. One death is enough to cause Dena and Josh to become guilt ridden. Less is more.Unfortunately, on a couple of points, the movie could not resist a turn toward the melodramatic. First, when they get in the truck to drive away from the river, they have trouble starting it. That is such a cliché that I was hoping that wouldn't happen before they even got in the truck. Oh well, at least they got it over with quickly.A second point, however, was most unfortunate. Dena becomes so guilt ridden that it becomes clear that it is just a matter of time before she turns herself into the police and confesses everything. To stop her from doing this, Josh murders her. Josh tells Harmon over the phone that it was an accident, which would have been fine, if he had pushed her and she fell down and struck her head. But he strangled her, and that is not something one does accidentally. In any event, this murder accomplishes nothing. The fact that Dena has been strangled coupled with the fact that Josh has to take it on the lam would make it obvious to the police that Dena and Josh were the eco-terrorists they were looking for. If Josh was going to have to flee the area and go into hiding anyway, then what was the point of the murder? Better would be to simply disappear without killing Dena. In that case, whether she talked or not would not have made much difference.Just as a melodramatic spectacle of a dam blowing up would not have been in keeping with the style and tone of this movie, so too was Dena's murder out of place. But maybe the difference was budgetary after all: it doesn't cost much to film a man strangling a woman.

Three eco-terrorists plot to explode a hydroelectric dam that is adversely affecting the local fish, but carrying on afterwards as if nothing has happened proves impossible for the trio in this deliberately paced thriller. The film does not exactly explore any new or original ideas; living with the guilt of one's criminal actions is an especially common running theme in Woody's filmography and the basic plot of 'Night Moves' is near identical to 'Cassandra's Dream' - but this nevertheless remains an encapsulating experience with the slow pacing an unexpected asset. Some of the best scenes have Jesse Eisenberg simply sitting around and waiting in the aftermath of the eco-terrorism act; his friends and family carry on their daily routines behind him while he poignantly stares into the distance, almost in disbelief at the fact that nobody is coming to lock him up for his crime. Dakota Fanning is equally effective as the token member of the trio who becomes sick with guilt, however, she could have benefited from more screen time. The film may have also fared better with a less open-ended conclusion; as it is, it ends on a note so abrupt that it is absolutely jarring. Generally speaking though, this is a nifty motion picture about impulsive idealists gradually coming to second-think their passionate stances when it is tragically too late to turn back. Jeff Grace graces the film with a perfectly haunting eerie music score and as one might expect from a film with the word 'Night' in the title, all the low-lighting nighttime shots are amazingly atmospheric.

For all its numerous misgivings, Night Moves is an incredibly complex and multi-layered film that gives us a raw insight into the minds of self-proclaimed do-gooders, or in this case, eco- terrorists. This along with a creepy atmosphere maintained by dark lighting and ambient music propels the film along seemingly inevitably towards its disturbing and complex ending.Night Moves is about three eco-terrorists who team up to blow up a goddam dam in the ultimate show of damism. Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), their leader, is not a good leader. While he manages to maintain the idealistic personality, Jesse Eisenberg fails to make a convincingly enough leader of the group. He lacks the coldness and strength that is generally associated with this type of character, which in effect negates his alpha status. He comes off seeming awkward and unusual but never strong minded and confident in what he does and how he feels.Dena (Dakota Fanning) is the woman in the group. She, while filling her role slightly better than Eisenberg, is also not such a great actor. Her lines often feel stilted and unusual, making her character unbelievable as well. Peter Sarsgaard plays his role the best, but unfortunately he has the least screen time out of the three.The film centers on the dynamic between Dena and Josh, who are forced to come to terms with the moral implications of the crime that they commit. The film is well-written, keeping the theme at arm's length. It forces the audience to think, but not to the point of frustration. However, the camera work, while occasionally being beautiful, is mostly slow and plodding, making the film truly boring at times. And don't even get me started on the horrible lighting.All in all, Night Moves is a well-thought out and thematically powerful indie movie, but in terms of the actual presentation of this theme, it needs work. Sometimes, during the movie you are seized by the thought that the director doesn't have enough to say. And at the end, you realize that she did, but just didn't know how.

I really like Kelly Reichardt's style. This is a slow burner of a thriller of pretty much the highest order, reminiscent of the '70s, when 'fast-paced' often took a backseat to 'tension building'. The ending is perfectly logical, perhaps even a little tóo obvious. Like that ending, the story holds no surprises - one might even call it clichéd... Bút! Reichardt knows how to create a perfect, endlessly atmospheric, almost claustrophobic, cinematic ride.I enjoyed the acting of all cast members, but was especially surprised by and smitten with Dakota Fanning's performance. I hope to be able to check out more of her in this 'genre' soon!9 out of 10.