Candyman (2021) | Film Review

 

I was excited to see this film. Not only did I enjoy the original, but I'm a huge fan of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who plays the main character, so at the very least I thought I'd at least enjoy myself, even if the film wasn't scary.

Artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) explores the history of the Candyman legend, not knowing that his exploration could cause a new wave of terror.

I didn't enjoy this film at all. 

For a start, the story didn't feel particularly coherent. In fact, it felt like the filmmakers were more focused on connecting this story to the legend, than telling a rich, complex, coherent story, which definitely could have been done with the Candyman backdrop.

So many of the story's events felt too convenient. I won't spoil the connection between this film and the original, but everything felt a bit too easy. And as there was no real explanation for why everything was so easy, it has to come down to the writing.

And speaking of the writing, I never really understood the character of Anthony - what kind of protagonist is he? It felt like no one involved in this project actually knew who he was. Again, it seemed like it was more important to connect him to the legend than it was to actually create a complex, three-dimensional, interesting character.

A lot of the moments that make this a horror were 'blink and you'll miss it' moments, and that felt really pointless to me. Why make a significant death scene take place in a room so dark that the audience can't see what's happening, or in a place so far away from the camera that we have to squint to see it (if you catch it at all)?

I also felt like a lot of the events in the film occurred really randomly, and mostly for shock-value (or to be used in the trailer), such as the bathroom scene. It didn't move the plot forward at all, so why was it in there?  

Having said all of this, I did like the way that the film tied itself to the original. I also thought that the death scenes (that we could see) were creative and really well-done.

I wish this film had been a reboot, and not a sequel. That way it wouldn't have had to sacrifice so much to stay connected to the original, and it could have given the original story an interesting update.

Overall, I didn't like this film. I like the original story of Candyman, and didn't feel like it needed a sequel that didn't improve or add to what we already know of the iconic character.

3/10