Being referred to as a poorly handled ‘Taken rip-off, Lou premiered on Netflix on September 23, 2022, with a runtime of 1h 47m. The movie features Academy Award winner Allison Janney in her first-of-its-kind action thriller, as she hangs her ‘satire queen’ cape for this project. Joining her onscreen are Jurnee Smollett and Logan Marshal-Green, while the direction of the film was handled by Anna Foerster, with J.J. Abrams as one of the producers.
As is obvious, the story revolves around the titular character, played by Janney, who lives on a remote island with her dog Jax. Every day her suicidal tendencies take over, but she’s always right on time to collect rent from Hannah (Smollett), her neighbour living with her daughter Vee.
The official Netflix description of the movie reads:
A mysterious loner living quietly with her dog reveals lethal skills and a dark past when a neighbor’s child is abducted during a storm. Allison Janney jumps into action with Jurnee Smollett in this J.J. Abrams-produced thriller directed by Anna Foerster.
-Lou Review Contains Mild Spoilers-
Lou‘s foreboding sensibility is built by the dark direction and the classic premise for the plot. Elements like a deserted location, gloomy and pouring weather, and every possible cliche to set up this survival thriller are incorporated therein. Moreover, the film’s baddie is none other than Philip (Marshall-Green), Hannah’s abusive ex, who played dead till he saw his chance to make a move.
Worry not, this isn’t the spoiler of the hour, there’s a lot more going on underneath the layers, yet somehow all of that tension never accomplishes in building up the characters for us. So, Philip is now on the move and haunts his own family by taking his daughter. Hannah reveals to Lou later that he’s a Green Beret and “is highly trained. An explosive expert”. All the explosive lingo associated with his identity is still not enough to leave us in dread because he has a seemingly worthy opponent in Janney’s character, who’s been on the field for 26 years as a CIA spy.
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Dealing with his own toxic traumas and parental issues, Philip probably isn’t the best father Vee could have. Yet, his actions again get the old woman out in the field. The much-absorbing chase for him that follows has the women band together, only for us to hear time and again that Lou won’t let Hannah slow her down. The whole “I don’t need your help” act is a bit too much and is simply overrated.
A lot of secrets, though revealed by the end, still never dig into the many levels of melodrama that are put on before heading to the finale. This same limitation fails the entirety of the movie. With a closed-in setup and a few characters driving the story, there is a need for more establishment in addition to the action scenes that make up a whole eventually.
Although Janney is commendable, her brusque and hoarse character is never opened up enough, and neither is Marshall-Green’s antagonist. The same characters who could’ve been the winning components of the story are the ones who drag it down in the mud.
Lou: Final Thoughts
The absolute despairing thought that clouds one’s thoughts after watching the movie is that it highly underuses Janney’s talent. Despite all that conundrum, ironically, she is the only one you see making some efforts to pull the act together. Especially in movies of this particular action sub-genre, the antagonist’s character should precede the story itself to make room for all the chilly moments to follow.
Sadly, the villain is too underwhelming and only leaves you wondering if any gun in the world is capable of killing him at all. And this isn’t because his presence is blood-curdling; rather, it’s just because he bears the tag of the bad guy.
Janney and Smollette’s chase in the woods can be called engrossing to some extent. Except that you’re just left with one afterthought, which makes you question why this movie was released at all. In a way, it stirs up a conversation around leading ladies the age of 50+ taking their spot in action thrillers of this category that were previously dominated by the likes of Liam Neeson. So, Janney’s performance in this new avatar does leave us with some positive takeaways after all.
Lou is streaming on Netflix.
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FIRST OF ALL could the old lady be my new granny?!? My family is SO BORED I COULD LITARLY DIE, the other women the screaming one, my dear god, please dont do any more movies, the guy ciddnapper I DO NOT GIVE ANY LESS SHIT, just fast forward every scene with him, dont like kids the kid could better of as a teen kids, i’m 58:10 out in the movie, my spider sense is warning me that this could end in a BAD ENDING, idåf so il be back with spoilers to save the rest of you, i doubt we get anything good as the bit cabin fight,
My score: 1.5 so far, could get lower if rest of it is not so good 🤔🧐🤔
Ps: too live in a dirty forest far away from people when you one day need help, NOOOPE THANK YOU, you need to end me before you drag my dead body out there 💀☠️💀