Terminal (2018)

The fact that I haven't seen any promotion whatsoever for Terminal should have kept me away from the film. The fact that that it stars Margot Robbie and Simon Pegg who I both very much like, especially the latter, did not allow it. And here I am, struggling to write the storyline for Terminal as it barely has one. 

Basically, the film follows two assassins (Dexter Fletcher and Max Irons) who agreed to take on a high-risk mission for a mysterious employer, a fatally ill teacher (Simon Pegg) who wants to kill himself but does not have the guts to do it, a curious and crazy waitress (Margot Robbie) and a weird and creepy janitor (Mike Meyers). 

The lives of these people eventually intertwine and the outcome is a very, very predictable plot that feels dragged on and on forever. My wild guess is that writer and director Vaughn Stein has no idea what a proper noir/mystery story should be like. While there are some twists --actually, there's way too many of them--, their execution is terrible. They are delivered and explained to us through some dreadful dialogue lines. 

The characters didn't help with the effectiveness of the twists either. Having only five characters that are relevant to the story makes it pretty easy for us to guess who's who and how did they met in the past. Also worth mentioning is that every single character is as flat as a board. They are just a bunch of characters with dubious morals. They also are incredibly dull, and it's hard to care for any of them. 

The acting, however, is the aspect of Terminal that disappointed me the most. While she still is the best thing about this film, Margot Robbie overacts from start to finish in this and she is a little obnoxious as well. Not even Simon Pegg, who is criminally underused, nor Mike Meyers can save this.

RLJE Films, Arrow Films

Then there's this thing about Terminal that drove me insane. It's like the filmmakers couldn't decide whether they wanted to make a serious film, a dark comedy or one of those pathetic parody movies. Frankly, I don't know. 

It is visually stunning though, I'll give the film that. It's the futuristic neon, Blade Runner-esque cinematography many films have nowadays but it's beautiful nevertheless.