User Reviews

To appreciate this film, you have to be prepared for the work of Kelly Reichart, whose films tend to be slow-moving and thought-provoking. You have to be in the mood for that type of experience. For this particular film you also have to be prepared for an emotional reaction to the story of several people who take political action, violent action, and suffer its human costs.

Anyone who was young during the 1960's and 1970's will remember what it was like to debate those political issues. We all had to decide whether we were willing to take action in which someone might get hurt. Or in the jargon of Star Trek, does the life of one outweigh the life of many? It's a question we still grapple with today.

If you are willing to confront those questions, and your own answers, this film will interest you. If you don't like to think about such things, skip this film and watch something more superficial.

For anyone familiar with famed indie director Kelly Reichardt's work you know what you're in for with Night Moves. Reichardt specializes in a sort of pondering, slow paced narrative that has seen her reach some great heights (Wendy and Lucy) and some real lowlights (Meeks Cutoff) that now with Night Moves has seen her move into an interesting new direction without losing the style that has gained her a steady stream of critical praise over her years in the industry.

This new direction we speak of is that of the eco/environmental thriller, a new sub-genre that has sprung up in recent years as the continued focus on the earth's natural demise has been more prevalent. Reichardt's slow burn pacing and nearly non-existent background work actually works incredibly well in setting up Moves central plot devise, that of an act of eco-terrorism in the blowing up of an energy dam.

For the first hour or so here Reichardt ratchets up the tension to an incredible level and it's not through scripting or clever edits, merely through a methodical pacing that almost feels as if it's playing out in real time, making the audience feel a part of whatever is about to go down. Once the films central act becomes old news the film takes on a less effective yet in the end scenes, tension riddled aspect that sees Reichardt's cast come to the forefront.

Everyone's favourite bundle of nervous edginess Jesse Eisenberg is front and centre here in Moves and his natural persona fits perfectly for the characters of Josh, a young man clearly dedicated yet not overly ready for the repercussions of his actions, even if they are in theory, for good. Eisenberg is ably supported by another grown up turn by Dakota Fanning who can still deliver dialogue in a unique way and Peter Sarsgaard in another one of his somewhat creepy loner roles. The lead cast of three produce an uneasy and well played out chemistry that fits this tale well and along with Jeff Grace's moody score and Christopher Blauvelt's stoic cinematography, creates a real unique feel to this non-conventional thriller.

Night Moves is a film too ponderous for the mass market of movie lovers yet it has a humble and effective feel to it that allows those that go along with it to be invested and on edge with what is taking place. With a cast of solid leads and with a lovely visual feel, Night Moves has a groove all to its own and while never reaching grand heights, it's certainly a sight bit better than many of its more explosive yet idiotic thriller counterparts and a breath of fresh air for those that like their movies tinged with a slower pacing.

3 1/2 bags of fertilizer out of 5

I went to the theater, a bit afraid I'd be on the receiving end of Enviro-Preaching. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find something different. This was actually a suspenseful thriller about paranoia taking hold after the commission of a major crime.

The environmental aspect was just a means to move the story along. Although the story involves eco-sabotage, the basic premise of the fallout from paranoia could have fit in a story about something similar like a robbery gone wrong, etc.

I was tickled to see the counter-culture hippie family eating bacon, and the self-righteous radical enviro-warriors owning gas-guzzling full-size pickup trucks. One of the guys, for all his professed love of the earth, treated his property like a pig sty. I don't think these and other little treats were accidents.

On the negative side, the movie was a bit on the slow side. Not horribly slow, but just a little on the plodding side. I think there were a few too many shots of the main character staring into space, having deep thoughts. Maybe it was constipation, I don't know. And the ending? Definitely could have been reworked, as it was rather disappointing.

In spite of these moderate flaws, I enjoyed this movie very much. It's well worth checking out.

Okay...I was expecting more. All the movie is about the plan. A clearly stupid and poor plan. We even don't know why they are doing that. We actually don't know anything about the characters because everything is silent and green. And that leads us to a non transparent story, full of holes and doubts.

Dialogs are nearly abstract, very plain. Eisenberg can't convince us he is kind of a criminal. There's no tension and that makes it more boring.

Then, the characters change, product of a particular situation (which was patently predictable)and we are expecting the characters to be real human beings, but...they are not.

And then the movie ends. There's no much more. And...OK.

The film comes down to the raw basic of film making as it tells a very suspenseful story of three environmentalist about to become Eco terrorist.

The movie's best quality is that it's real low key. They don't try to hide the purpose of the movie or why they are doing anything. They keep this artistic freedom to a low,so the movie is not frustrating or hard to follow.

Which is good because this movie is painfully slow. No real action is in the movie. All the best action is done off camera so you just have to imagine what's going on, which is not hard cause the focus of the movie is clear.

I myself found the movie enjoyable, but I will admit there a lot of slow parts that I almost fell asleep on.

After making a modest splash in festivals last year garnering a few fans, Night Moves didn't gel to the public as neatly upon its release. It's easy to see, it's not an immediately rewarding film and you have to be in the mood for its slow burn. Fortunately I was and I loved its aesthetic. It's not exactly Blue Ruin, but why can't all films these days look like this? Although it deliberately pushes us away from the characters keeping its cards close to its chest, it quietly holds tension throughout, even after the intelligently anticlimactic deed is done. It's quite well written and patient, with characters having to be resourceful to get out of real conflict, it showcases the finest points of the acting. It's certainly an improvement on Reichardt's unconvincing 'Western' Meek's Cutoff which was a chore to get through. This has something ambiguous to say about the morality of environmental radicals. However, it's such a shame that it delegates itself to paranoid clichés and weak open endings in its final 15 minutes when even Jesse Eisenberg doesn't know what to do with the material he's given that it holds the whole film back and leaves it on a sour note. It's whole second half slowed down to a halt to a point where it really depended on how it ended and it let itself down. Still a solid film though.

7/10

"You said no one would get hurt!" -Dena

I was not particularly excited going in to see this one but I was certainly interested, Night Moves is another of those movies that premiered a year ago at the Toronto Film Festival that are only now getting released in my country though this one has also taken a while to get it's release in the U.S. It was a year ago then that two films premiered at "TIFF" that stared Jesse Eisenberg, one of them was The Double and the other one was this one, both received good reviews, The Double continued to get it's share of talk while this one kind of was forgotten, still though I remembered the good early buzz that had continued throughout it's promotion so I still went ahead and saw it.

Night Moves is Directed by Kelly Reichardt and it stars Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg, Alia Shawkat, Peter Sarsgaard, Katherine Waterston, James LeGros and Griffin Newman. " Three radical environmentalists coming together to execute the most intense protest of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam-the very source and symbol of the energy-sucking, resource-devouring industrial culture they despise."

Night Moves is not a picture that I loved, I didn't it's no doubt flawed and I can see many getting way of this one but I got to say that this is a good little film that's being underseen. I am not familiar with director of the movie, I had heard about some of her pictures but she seems to be someone who divides audiences and I guess this is another picture that will divide audiences. It will not break audiences because it's weird or too complicated but because it's too simple and many will probably find it uninteresting and boring.

Though the movie certainly has a slow pace I would disagree with those who say it is boring though I got to say that I would understand those people too because I feel there's a lack of character development. I'm not saying they should have gone with some cheap clichéd sh*t and put up a background on the characters but they could have made a bit more effort. We are never truly able to understand these guys, their motivations seem awfully weak, they are basically people who want to protect the environment and all that jazz but the fact is that the movie's tone is much bleaker, these characters are completely alienated, especially Jesse's and we never get the sense of why. They basically are acting like terrorists doing some "Mickey Mouse" job that doesn't really have a great deal of importance in the big scheme of things but they take it like they are revolutionizing the world and I think that made it kind of confusing for the audience.

It was also confusing what happens afterwards, I mean was it really that surprising that someone got injured or killed, I mean that blew up a f*cking dam like tough guys but then they couldn't handle the consequences of their job that was ultimately successful. I mean this collapsing of the characters in the afterwards of the job is certainly an interesting character study on guilt, on fear and on redemption and I think it's handled quite beautifully but I still I couldn't help but to feel confused. It's kind of a paradox because that made me feel confused but it also helped me relate with the characters because they are no big timers they are just normal people, with good intentions and a heart and it's very interesting to their reacting to the consequences or their actions, their reactions aren't from a gangster where he doesn't feel anything, this the way probably a normal person would react.

The film takes it very slowly but then again it's never boring even though the movie is never really exciting or thrilling it's always at least engaging and an interesting watch and certainly quite tense to. It's a very intense film with doubt and I got to applaud the director for creating such a mood where you feel trapped, claustrophobic, very gloomy and heavy. It's a very simple story with few twists in it, very straight forward and there are not a great many deal of surprises but again I say the movie is always very tense and there's quite an emotional complexity to it all.

The performances certainly helped. Peter Sarsgaard is such a great actor, very underrated, good in everything he's been and unfortunately he's face doesn't bring audiences and because of that he usually is not given big roles, here he does have a good little role that he plays well, not a great deal of showy scenes where he lets loose his talent but still worth mentioning. Dakota Fanning is still seen as a child by many, such as myself, but the fact is that she's already taking big roles such as this one with a performance that I'm not going to lie, impressed me. She's great in this though she's not the star of the movie. The star of the film is Academy Award Nominee, Jesse Eisenberg, who gives he's best performance since The Social Network. What a good performance, very contained performance, as a seemingly shy, quiet, lonely, alienated young fella. He almost reminded me of Travis, this guy is really quite sick, very paranoid, it seems like he's always cooking up something and I mean those last 25 minutes just showcase Eisenberg's talent, he here proves that The Social Network wasn't just luck.

Night Moves is a simple yet beautifully made picture, with a slow pace but gut wrecking intensity at times and performances that alone are worth your while, it also raises up some interesting questions like "when do legitimate convictions truly demand illegal violent behavior?" and a good meditation on consequences when it comes to political extremist acts. See it!

Rating:B-

I was actually surprised after watching this movie, having firstly noticed the given low ratings.

Starting with the characters, the difference in the way each one of them feels about the environmental problems is clear and straightforward. While Harmon, being an ex-con, performs his role in a more detached way, Dena, and mainly Josh, possess deep feelings about them. Dena learnt about them and made up her mind supported in what she claims to be scientific facts. Josh appears to have a more romantic and purist approach, despite his paranoid outbreaks and trust problems. This actually helps the viewer to start building an idea about how each one of these characters will react to the approaching outcome.

OK, it is a slow paced movie, which I don't see as something necessarily bad. Actually, I think it contrasts beautifully with the sentiment of urgency that the problem demands and which they want people to acknowledge. Also, about the kind of numbness in Josh expressions during almost all the scenes, I simply cannot see them as emotionless or empty. I rather think (and felt) that he was the most engagingly involved and disturbed about environmental unbalances, almost in a traumatized way, which I think is reinforced by some plan shots, silent and numbing, taking a few more seconds than we are used to.

Ultimately, it is a movie about the human condition, about good people, with good reasons, doing wrong things.

"One person, that's all it takes." Josh (Eisenberg) and Dena (Fanning) are young environmentalists who are sick of watching the planet get destroyed. Along with a man named Harmon they come up with a plan to blow up a hydro-electric dam as a protest to what is happening. There are a few bumps but for the most part things go according to plan. When the papers the next day report something unexpected the three protesters become scared and trust is challenged. I wasn't sure what to expect from this at all but I was hoping for a movie like The East. That movie was very tense and I really enjoyed it, kinda like an Erin Brokovich on steroids. This one was not like that. On the other hand though I think this one is more realistic. This one deals with three people who are not affiliated with any organization who try to make a big statement but it doesn't go has planned. No one is a loud mouth or draws attention to themselves which is good for what they are doing, but not for a movie. This is very slow and has very little dialog. The movie isn't bad but never quite gets as tense and suspenseful as needed. Acting is good but the movie was really lacking something to make an impact on me. Overall, not terrible but slow and methodical. Almost too slow to stay focused on. I give this a B-.

Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are radical environmentalists. They buy a boat called "Night Moves". They along with troubled ex-Marine Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) plan to bomb a dam. They buy a large quantity of fertilizer, make their bomb and deliver it on the boat.

This is a slow, methodical movie. There are so many empty spaces. It's a two hour movie that could easily be squeezed in half. It's just so very slow. Everybody is doing mainly quiet acting. Some could see in it as deep emotional acting. They can read so much into their quietness. I can only read it as a lack of dialog. There are some emotional content in the second half but it's not enough.

Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves, if nothing else, proves that the radical environmentalists of our time can be just as irritating as those who hold up signs blasting the alleged lies of global warming at crowded, echo-chamber rallies. The film concerns a group of three young, arrogant eco-terrorists, so concerned about the environment and so appalled by the blatant corporatism of America that they decide to set an example and wake-up the sheep of the country but staging an explosion of a hydroelectric dam in Oregon. Think about that last sentence and find the flaw in their young minds.

The three radical environmentalists are John (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning), and Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard). John and Dena have come up with an elaborate plan to stage the bombing, but it's up to Harmon to actually construct the bomb, using ammonium nitrate among other things, to help carry out the attack. Co-writer/director Reichardt follows these characters in a way that's quiet, low-key, and not very menacing, given the subject matter, ripe for commentary and subjectivity. She chooses to shoot everything through a lens of softness, making good use of natural sound, light, and other devices to help the story move forward. Reichardt, nor the film's trio of environmentalists, are in any particular hurry whatsoever. The film is ten minutes shy of two hours and makes diligent use of its time.

A great deal of the last hour shows the mental effect the actual bombing has on its characters. We only hear the ammonium nitrate activating and exploding and do not see the actual explosion occurring, nor do we need to, for this isn't that kind of film. In true indie- film fashion, we are focused on what the bombing's long- term effects are on the film's characters, who feel guilt when they learn the rush of the dam currents drowned a man camping near the explosion. They never intended to injure or kill the sheep of the country, but rather, just inform them of what their actions are doing to the ecosystem. However, they now have a mess on their hands and must deal with it in their own manner. They split up and cut connections with each other, but grow weary of one another possibly ratting out the entire group when the rush of guilt becomes too difficult to bear.

The three eco-terrorists of the film are not very likable people. They are arrogant and self-absorbed, not willing to share their knowledge, but beat you over the head with it until your covered in metaphorical blood and shame for your alleged lack of interest or concern about Mother Nature. They are no better in their propagating of their idea of "the truth" then their greatest enemies, climate change deniers or the uniformed, are at iterating their own "truth."

However, that's not to say our three characters (I don't see them as protagonists, antagonists, anti-heroes, or any literary classification whatsoever) don't make substantial points in their arguments. One of the best moments of the film comes when the idea of the rich vs. the poor is elaborated in such a philosophical way it begs a mention in this review. The characters talk about how the poor live and work in the moment, operating on a day-by-day basis, using what available resources and cash they have in the moment. The rich, on the other hand, operate in the future, buying many things with credit, investing in long-term business plans, and so forth. To them, this is why the environment is such in a disastrous position because we've chosen to allow our greed to thrive in the moment and left our tab - environmental dangers, debt, and income inequality - for later, or worse, for somebody else.

Night Moves is a nice showcase for low-key filmmaking in the sense that we can still have a point, or even several points, be inferred or illustrated without obnoxious overtones and frustratingly overwritten dialog. To some degree, the film is underwritten because its characters lack evident personality, but it all comes back to the ideas I discussed in my reviews of 17 Girls and The Bling Ring in that the characters explored in these films have no personality other than their immediate gratifications through violence, theft, pregnancy, or what-have-you. To give them illustrated personalities would be giving them too much credit. The emptiness of the characters in this particular film are crafted nicely by Eisenberg, Fanning, and Sarsgaard, particularly Eisenberg who, in The Social Network, managed to play the same sort of role. Quiet, unassuming, but uncompromising in his brilliance and his approach to the world. For some, this may be one of the best films you've never heard of, and for me, it's one of the most surprising independent efforts of its year.

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard. Directed by: Kelly Reichardt.

'NIGHT MOVES': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Director Kelly Reichardt's fourth movie set and filmed in Oregon. Reichardt (who's from Florida) co-wrote the film with Portland writer Jonathan Raymond. Raymond also co-wrote the Oregon based movies 'OLD JOY' and 'WENDY AND LUCY', with Reichardt, and wrote 'MEEK'S CUTOFF' (which takes place in the 1845 Oregon desert) as well; Reichardt directed all those films. This movie is about three Oregonian environmentalists plotting to blow up a hydroelectric dam. It stars Jess Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard. When I finished watching the film I initially hated it but over time I've come to respect it (in some ways at least).

Eisenberg plays Josh, a radical environmentalist who works as an organic farmer in Southern Oregon. Fanning plays Josh's friend Dena. Dena shares a lot of the same extreme political ideals as Josh and agrees to help him detonate a controversial dam. Josh also enlists the help of another friend of his, named Harmon (Sarsgaard). Harmon is a former Marine who knows a lot about explosives. The three find themselves in way over their heads, when their plan goes horribly wrong.

The first half of the movie is excruciatingly slow and not very involving. Once the movie gets to the actual action though (of the story) it gets extremely suspenseful and gripping. I really didn't like the ending though; it made me feel sick and depressed. I also didn't like any of the film's central characters, especially Josh (and I'm a big Jesse Eisenberg fan). Josh is way too socially incompetent and creepy. He means well, at first, but he ends up doing everything a person, in his situation, shouldn't do. That's why I really didn't like the movie, when I first finished watching it, but the more I've had time to think about it the more I've come to appreciate it. It's moody, memorable and it makes you think. As unlikeable as Eisenberg is, in this movie, he does give an amazing performance as well.

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I started this movie with eager anticipation, and ended with a strong desire to push pins in my eyes to alleviate the boredom. I really don't think that I have ever seen a film that is so slow and boring. It just seems to go on, and on, and on.... Lingering scenes, that are presumably meant to be replete with meaning, seem to go on forever. The main character does not seem to change his expression throughout,even during what should be one of the most dramatic scenes of the film. Presumably, this is meant to convey something, but to me it simply had the effect of adding to the tedium rather than exploring what (I guess) was meant to be the major themes of consequences and guilt. One to treasure for those nights when you are just desperate to sleep but cant drop off. Apart from that I would avoid it.

Kelly Reichardt's "Night Moves" is a slow burning thriller that focuses more on the characters than on the action. Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning), and Harmon (Peter Sarsgard) are three environmentalists that decide to blow up a dam in Oregon. We follow these characters throughout the event and after. Josh is the anchor of the film and Eisenberg holds the screen very well. The film may be slow moving, but thanks to the actors we really get a feel for the characters. We don't learn a lot about them, but we get to understand their passions and fears that the dam brings on.

The film gives a mostly objective look of the events throughout the film. Reichardt forces us to answer the ethics of the situation. Who is right in this situation? Are the characters' action justifiable? We have to answer this. "Night Moves" is a haunting film for this reason. Although its objectiveness doesn't give us a chance to really connect with the characters, it gives us just enough to be engaged in the story and examine our own thoughts about the issues of our Industrial driven society and the price of the comforts we have.

Featured at the 57th San Francisco International Film Festival, Night Moves is a film directed by the queen of slow burn narrative Kelly Reichardt. Reichardt uses space and tone instead of plot and character to tell this story of eco terrorism. Organic farmers Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) buy a boat and travel deep in the woods to meet Josh's friend Harmon (Sarsgaard). The three begin to set into motion a plan to blow up a hydroelectric dam at a nearby lake. After they succeed they learn their act caused the death of a camper. The guilt begins to cause Dena to rethink their actions. Josh must find a way to keep her quiet before she talks and they all end up in jail. Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff, Wendy And Lucy) is known for her lightly plotted pieces. She works within a realm of filmmaking in which the story is told not through actions but through suspense. In Night Moves, the majority of the film is the planning of the explosion. However, this kind of storytelling seems to stunt emotions of characters. These three are supposed to be passionate enough activists to even come up with this plan but they all walk around sleepy/dead-eyed and talk in monotone voices. Why are they doing this if they really don't seem to care? This doesn't match what they are planning to do and makes it confusing for an audience. Eisenberg (The Double) is the most passionate of the three, but he really is more angry than anything. His brood is exceptional in this film as he makes Josh into a man who seems he will never be content with anything- even when their plan seems to go off without a hitch. Sarsgaard (Blue Jasmine) fits nicely into the role of Harmon, an ex- marine who lives in a trailer out in the middle of nowhere. With his long hair and slight smile he is just handsome enough to charm his way through anything and just sleazy enough not to be trusted. Fanning (The Secret Life Of Bees) plays Dena with a confounding amount of nonchalance. One might wonder why her character is even involved with this plan. All she seems to be is a sad little rich girl who spends Daddy's money on hundreds of pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Even when Dena's guilt has become "too much for her to bear"- she doesn't really seem too worried about it externally. Fanning has been choosing more mature roles lately but it is unclear if she herself has matured in her craft- it will be interesting to see what she does next. Night Moves is indeed a beautiful film that has stunning shots of what majestic Oregon lakes and forests have to offer. The emotion from the performances does not match the situation at hand making it a dry, uneven and drawn out film. The build up is slow and intense but overall you may find yourself feeling more passionate about what is happening than about the characters.

While the plot description on Netflix lead me to believe that this would be a more hard-hitting movie with a lot of action, that isn't what I got. I suspect that many other viewers were probably expecting what I was expecting, resulting in the many negative user reviews here on the IMDb. But while I didn't get what I was expecting, I did find enough to enjoy about the movie to make me glad that I watched it. It is certainly far from a perfect movie. The characters don't have all that much depth that really explains why they decide to pull off the deadly plan they have carefully planned. Also, the last 15 or so minutes has a couple of "huh?" moments that don't make it clear as to what happened... or will happen. And the movie IS very slow - this is definitely not a movie to see when you are in the mood for mindless entertainment. But all the same, I was pretty captivated by the events of the movie. It feels more realistic than a lot of other movies dealing with the same basic subject matter. And while the movie is slow, its peeling of one layer off of another made me eager to find out what would happen next. The movie is also competently made in other areas despite a low budget, from the cinematography to the acting. Not a great movie, not a movie for everybody, and not for watching at any moment... but if you are in the proper mood at the right time, you'll probably enjoy it as much as I did.

"It'll all go fast in the end. Once the marine biodiversity goes, everything goes with it."

I was unfamiliar with Kelly Reichardt until Night Moves, but I had heard several great things from her direction in Meek's Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy. Night Moves has also received many praises from critics so I really don't know how I will feel about her other films because this one was a disappointment for me. Perhaps I don't get her style of filmmaking but the entire film felt tedious and there wasn't any tension. For a movie that is centered on a character driven plot I really didn't feel like I learned much about these three radical environmentalists. What motivates them to take these extreme measures? All we know is that they are environmentalists, but I didn't feel like they had any distinct trait. The pacing of this film was really slow and at times I felt like abandoning it, but I continued to watch in hopes that the plot got better. After all, Hollywood Report compared it to the the suspenseful Hitchcock films of the 50's. The final third act of the film was the worst considering some of the decisions made felt completely out of character. Night Moves lacked soul and purpose, I really never managed to get into it despite how much I liked the cast. It was a numbing experience for me and no matter how gorgeous the Oregon landscape was, I simply never bought into the story. Reichardt loves to use steady shots and let the action unfold in front of us, but they were as tedious as the the slow pacing of the film. Nature might be captured beautifully in Night Moves, but the characters' motivations were really hard to believe at times. I tend to enjoy low key films, but for a character driven one I really didn't see much development going on. Yes, Eisenberg's character is alienated, Fanning's is strong willed, and Sarsgaard's is the most adventurous, but other than that we don't get much from their restrained performances. I might be on the minority here so I will give Reichardt another chance and check out one of her previous films to see if I enjoy it better than Night Moves.

I wouldn't have a problem with a slow burner like Night Moves if the final result was a rewarding experience, but the third act is even less engaging than the previous ones. I can't simply enjoy a film because it's restrained and it's nice to look at. Sure some of the steady long shots looked cool, but after a while it too becomes tedious as the characters in this film. Eisenberg received a lot of praise for his performance here, although I really never bought into his character's motivations. The strongest performance for me came from Peter Sarsgaard who was much more believable and understandable. Dakota Fanning had some interesting scenes as well, but I still had a hard time getting engaged with their characters. Comparisons with The East were almost inevitable for me considering the theme of this film, but somehow I didn't enjoy this as much as Batmanglij's film. That film despite having several flaws managed to maintain the tension throughout most of its running time unlike what I felt with Night Moves which simply failed to deliver suspense or any real drama.

Kelly Reichardt's movie 'Night Moves' is about a group of eco-terrorists blowing up a dam; but don't expect to see any explosions. Instead, the film focuses on the guilt, fear and distrust that set in among the group post-action, like a straight version of 'Shallow Grave'. Unfortunately, the characters seem rather under-motivated; whereas in Danny Boyle's film, the protagonists are wrestling with the consequences of an opportunistic act, here they are supposedly committed to their course with a deadly seriousness, yet still crack up at the slightest hint they might be arrested. The film neither endorses their actions, nor mocks their ridiculousness, and its message thus reduces to "life's a bummer when you blow up a dam." Which I guess it is; but a more explicitly political movie might have been a more interesting one.

One word to describe Night Moves : empty.

For one hour we're offered the off-putting preparation of a plan you don't quite get the point of, followed by 5 minutes of action — in the very broad sense of the term — and then a horrendously laborious 45 minute epilogue, as inconclusive as the last bizarre scene.

It's simple, nothing happens whatsoever in this contemplative movie one could compare to a flat encephalogram, where the silences are as heavy as the lack of rhythm.

Only positive point : for once, we weren't hammered with the same old moralizing eco tune.

If you are a fan of slow-paced, character-driven movies, than Night Moves is the perfect movie for you. This film presents a rather good theme regarding environmentalism and saving the planet, but the film, even by my standards, move at such a snail pace, it would be hard to watch the film. That being said, it has a moving story and great acting as we should expect with such a character-driven drama. And no, this film is not about Bob Seger's "Night Moves," as one would want to expect, haha.

Kelly Reichart's film is about how three radicalized people decide to blow up a dam and the unforeseen consequences they face due to their actions.

I thought everyone gave compelling performances in the movie. Jesse Eisenberg does a good job as the leader of the plot, Josh. He was mostly sullen and conflicted, but then again his character had to be. Dakota Fanning does a fine job as Dena, who begins to raise doubts after the incident. Peter Sarsgaard was pretty good as Harmon, the ex-Marine who seems quite suspicious.

Overall, Night Moves is a slow-moving, but very interesting drama. I liked the characterization and I even liked the ending, as it leaves a message open to interpretation. But on the other hand, the movie crawling at such a slow pace can be a tad irritating. But this movie does have interesting themes to play with and relevant themes as well.

My Grade: B-

If you call this a thriller, your IQ is either as low as a potato or you've been high watching this. In a world packed with modern investigation methods, nobody comes behind the boat terrorists AND a murder in a scene full of DNA! Absolute bullock of a movie. Don't even think about wasting your time on this.