Studio: Blumhouse
Director: J.D. Dillard
Writer: J.D. Dillard, Alex Theurer, Alex Hyner
Producer: Jason Blum, J.D. Dillard, Alex Theurer, Alex Hyner, Bill Karesh
Stars: Kiersey Clemons, Emory Cohen, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Andrew Crawford
Review Score:
Summary:
Stranded on a deserted island, a shipwreck survivor discovers she is being stalked by a deadly amphibious creature.
Review:
Picture Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” except he’s a young woman. Now instead of a volleyball, imagine Wilson is a fish monster. That’s your simplified summary of “Sweetheart.”
Jenn’s ocean excursion with her boyfriend Lucas and a few other folks should have been a relaxing dream getaway. Instead, it becomes an unthinkable nightmare after a shipwreck strands Jenn alone on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. At least, it appears to be deserted.
Resourcefulness kicks in quickly. Jenn’s impressive aptitude for spear-fishing and her instinctual foraging skills provide food. Ingenuity helps her construct shelter. Staying alive doesn’t pose much of a problem… yet.
When a plane passes overhead during the night, Jenn fumbles for a flare gun. She fires too late to attract the aircraft’s attention, but ends up illuminating a sinister shape standing in the sea. Jenn isn’t alone on the island after all. She’s smack dab in the domain of an amphibious nocturnal predator, and it is hungry for human meat.
There shouldn’t be too much to this review since there isn’t too much to “Sweetheart.” Mix one-third scavenge-and-subsist setup, one-third seesaw of suspenseful confrontations, and one-third late-inning revelations leading toward a fiery finale. Pour in a glass and enjoy an uncomplicated creature feature that functions fine as an aperitif prior to a heartier monster movie meal.
There aren’t many metaphors to be found. You could pull a muscle straining to search for allegorical arcs of overcoming emotional adversity, gender empowerment, or other parallels that aren’t actually there. Really though, you’d be doing a job the script didn’t. Don’t dig deeper than one woman versus one monster for 80 minutes. “Sweetheart” is as straightforward as a survival thriller gets.
The story opens immediately with Jenn already washed up on the beach. I wouldn’t describe her performance as overwhelmingly engaging, yet Kiersy Clemons creates a compelling enough character to carry prologue portions by herself without the absence of action becoming a burden. “Spartan” describes “Sweetheart’s” approach to just about everything and that certainly encompasses Jenn’s slim characterization. This movie is all about meeting minimums without overextending in terms of runtime, writing, or unnecessary complications.
A mid-movie reset occurs when additional people enter the picture. “Sweetheart’s” scenario compensates accordingly, which results in altered dynamics that won’t be to everyone’s liking. One gets the sense that the writers, and somehow there are three of them, felt the need to fatten the plot while breaking up extended silence with some conversational dialogue. It’s a halfhearted attempt however. They collectively abandon drawing concrete lines through certain circumstances. Although it’s easy to infer what the basic background is, there will be those who are rightfully frustrated that not everything is spelled out specifically.
The final faceoff also isn’t as epic as it ought to be. Basically, “Sweetheart” has problems producing payoffs when it comes to relationships, backstories, and the overall outcome of the tête-à-tête anchoring the entire affair.
“Sweetheart” still has it where it counts and that’s mainly in its monster. Producers correctly chose to not cut a corner in that department and hired Neville Page, one of the industry’s best makeup effects designers, to create the creature. Although early minutes are predictably/appropriately/expectedly stingy about how much is shown, we definitely get good long looks at the vaguely Innsmouthian entity in furious fighting form as the film rolls along.
“Sweetheart” earns three stars out of five, a nice notch above average, because although it lands below the technical quality level of a similarly-themed theatrical thriller like “The Shallows” (review here) or “47 Meters Down” (review here), it ranks above a run-of-the-mill fish flick from Syfy. It’s something you’ll only watch once. But anyone whose open attitude correctly calibrates for lean, light survival frights featuring a cool creature against a competent competitor should be pleased with the production.
Review Score: 60
If you want to see impossible amounts of blood explode crimson colors like the world’s worst version of a gender reveal, well, “Abigail” at least has that.