In January 2015, Keanu Reeves pleased his fans with a new film with his participation: the thriller “Who's There?” Was released. The reviews received quite mixed reviews. Let's try to figure out what was wrong with the creators of the project this time?
Filmmakers
“Who's There” is a film that was created by director Elijah Roth. Eli Roth - film producer, screenwriter, director. And this is a person with a very sophisticated, painful imagination. What else can be said about the person who made the films "Hostel" and "Hotsel-2"? Eli Roth specializes in horror films and thrillers, but he clearly imitates in his works the same "strange" director - Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino appreciated the efforts of his colleague and even produced his sadistic horror "Hostel", but he has nothing to do with the film "Who's There". The script for the thriller was written by Eli Roth himself, together with Nicholas Lopez. Behind the camera was Antonio Cuerca, who also worked on the horror film Aftershock. Eli Roth, by the way, played a major role in this picture.
Produced the film "Who's There" by Miguel Asensio ("Green Hell") and Colleen Camp ("American Scam"). Supervised the entire project film company Black Bear Pictures.
Short story
Remembering the creations of Elijah Roth "Hostel" and "Inglourious Basterds", it is easy to guess in which way he created the thriller with Keanu Reeves in the title role.
The plot of the picture is simple and straightforward: the hero of Reeves is an exemplary family man who was left alone at home, and after some time he let two strangers soaked to the skin into the house. It is easy to guess that then there was a stormy erotic scene with the participation of all three, and then, in fact, the thriller started, because instead of leaving the “hospitable” house, the girls tied the main character and began to mock him.
The main intrigue is, of course, how the architect Evan will cope with his distraught friends and whether he can save his marriage.
"Who's There": actors. Keanu Reeves as Evan
The protagonist of the picture is the architect Evan Webber. He has no distinguishing features, except that he values ​​his family. And he is very well-mannered, because he cannot refuse two girls hospitality, especially if they are wet, and in carnal joys, by the way, too. The whole story ends sadly for the architect Webber: at first they threaten him with destroying his marriage, and then they generally begin to mock sophisticatedly at the "poor" man.
Keanu Reeves has played in dozens of good films, but recently he has lost his knack and is choosing the most unsuccessful projects for imagining. What is the action movie "John Wick", which was released in 2014: Keanu Reeves, avenging the dog of the Russian mafia with Jewish-Ukrainian names, simply surprised his fans - for a long time he did not act in such "nonsense". More precisely, he never starred. Now the thriller “Who's There” has appeared on the big screens, the rating of which went off scale the first weekend, and already in the second weekend fell below the baseboard. It is hoped that the hero of The Matrix, Devil's Advocate and other worthy films will finally come to his senses and begin to better filter the scripts sent to him.
L. Izzo as Genesis
As for the Chilean actress named Laurence Izzo, her participation in the film Eli Rota just does not raise questions - the girl is still a fashion model by profession, so she does not have to choose especially. Lawrence first appeared on the screen in 2011 in the movie "Sorry for your wedding." In 2012, she was invited to star in the aftershock thriller, where Eli Roth played a major role.
Then there was a whole series of little-known and low-budget projects, until in 2014 Lawrence was entrusted with the main role in the frivolous comedy “Sex Education”. And in 2015, the girl plays Genesis in the thriller "Who's There" - the heroine who, together with her friend, asked for a house to the architect Evan Webber and subsequently arranged an orgy there.
A. de Armas as Belle
Ana de Armas, who took part in the filming of the film, is a Cuban nationality. Ana spent her youth in the USA, but she returned to the Theater School to enter Cuba. In parallel with the development of the acting profession, Ana de Armas was engaged in modeling. Cosmopolitan magazine once even called the girl the owner of an ideal appearance.
For the first time on the screens Ana appeared in 2006, playing in the film "Rose of France". Then the actress got into the Spanish mystical series Black Lagoon, which made the girl famous in
Spanish-speaking countries. It took 600,000 euros to shoot one episode of this film alone. In total, viewers were shown seven seasons of the television tape.
Then Ana de Armas appeared in the Spanish drama film “Sex, Parties and Lies” and voiced one of the heroes of the Spanish version of the cartoon “Despicable Me”.
In the thriller “Who's There,” Anna embodied on the screens the image of Belle - a friend of Genesis. In the story, Belle and Genesis enter the apartment of architect Evan on an innocent pretext, and then turn the life of the protagonist into hell.
Other role performers
In the film “Who's There”, the actors Keanu Reeves, Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo fill the frame with their personalities. These are the three main characters, the plot revolves around. Only occasionally outsiders appear on the screen, among which you can meet actress Colleen Camp, who plays Evan's wife, as well as Aaron Barnes, Ignasia Allamand, Dan and Megan Bailey, and even cameraman Antonio Cuarch.
Premiere and box office
“Who's There” is a film which premiered for the first time in the United States on January 23, 2015. Only in the summer could Great Britain, Ireland, and Colombia see the picture. In the fall, the Elijah Rota film was shown in the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, France and Argentina. Residents of Russia got acquainted with the picture November 12, 2015
The box office of the film is still impossible to calculate, since "Who's There" continues to go to the cinemas in different countries. It is only known that in Russia the thriller raised a total of 515 thousand dollars. The same "John Wick" in the Russian box office raised two million dollars, despite the absurdity of the material. The audience just went to look at Keanu Reeves and evaluate his physical form. But it seems that the thriller “Who's There” will not save the actor’s appearance.
Who's There: Criticism
So what do professional critics think about all this? How do they rate the movie “Who's There”?
Reviews can hardly be called unambiguous. Those who evaluate the work of the director positively note that the plot of the film is constantly in suspense and pleases with unexpected twists. In addition, the nerves tickle the viewer in a scene in which two beautiful girls show remarkable brutality. However, the enumeration of the merits of the picture ends there.
In other reviews, critics are perplexed as an adult man can’t cope with two “professional resources” for an hour and a half? The idea to invite Reeves to this role was initially a failure, because after roles in The Matrix and 47 Ronin, it is hard to believe that Neo could be the victim of two frail girls.
Viewers reviews
The opinion of the audience is not very different from the opinion of critics expressed about the film "Who's There." Feedback from that part of the audience, which consists of ardent Reeves fans, is positive. Erotic scenes with a Hollywood star add fuel to the fire. Those who treat Keanu Reeves more or less calmly are perplexed about his choice in favor of the project by Elijah Roth: even at the stage of proofreading the script, it should have been clear that the film would turn out to be weak; In addition, Reeves absolutely does not look like a soft-bodied, sacrificial architect.