3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Reptile

2023, Grant Singer (music video director; feature debut) -- Netflix

Reptile is most definitely a movie with style, which is not surprising considering the director came from the music video world. The colour palette, the way it framed the characters and, of course, the metaphors depicted, which would have most viewers, myself included, looking for one of those "_____ ending explained". That Guy is shaking his head at This Guy who recognizes that movies are alluding to something, that what is on the screen is not always taken as matter of fact, but doesn't always catch the meaning, in full.

That said, many of the negative critic reviews suggest they didn't "get it" or there wasn't really anything to get. I am more likely to think along the latter lines, in that the movie was a tad overcooked, with lots of symbolism, but with too little payout to warrant the stylings. And yet, I really liked it.

Tom (Benicio Del Toro, Sicario; wearing his usual leather blazer) is a cop in the town of Scarborough. They don't state where this town is (some people say Maine, but it just didn't have a Maine-feel to me; I am thinking more upstate NY), but it is most definitely an affluent rural community not far from a "big city". Tom has a history, something to do with shady cops -- either he ratted on them, or he stayed quiet while the rest were indicted. Either way, he gained a reputation and had to leave for quieter locales. The force there is small, they are all friends, they attend each other's birthdays, they call Tom "Oklahoma" because he likes country square dancing.

Summer Elswick (Matilda Lutz, Zone 414), a young real estate agent, is horrifically murdered in a house she was trying to sell. There are the usual suspects, and some shady characters, but almost immediately Tom starts finding things that don't add up. Her boyfriend, Will Grady (an incredibly sad-sack Justin Timberlake, In Time) is heir to a wealthy & influential real estate family. There is a desire to end the investigation quickly, and the most likely suspect is Summer's ex-BF. Only when the precinct believes they have the real suspect does Tom begin to unravel the deeper mystery, and crimes, that this sleepy little town has.

The movie presents like a horror movie. The angles, the tones, the general untrustworthiness of all the supporting characters, and the constant very eerie music. But the mystery is actually quite straight forward as murder-mysteries go. I was really carried along by the tone, and the sense that a lot of symbolism was happening, not all caught by me, but at least acknowledged. But part of me wonders whether the movie didn't embrace its symbolism enough. The title of the movie is Reptile which gives way to a few thematic ideas: cold-blooded killers, skins being shed, lurking danger. There is a bit of such, but only thinly offered.

There is a final scene in the movie, Tom laying his hand in a wax bath, a treatment often used for hand injuries, and then pulling the "second skin" off is the aforementioned "____ ending explained" bit. Not sure it was required.