{"id":4274,"date":"2012-08-30T17:42:34","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T23:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4274"},"modified":"2012-08-30T17:42:34","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T23:42:34","slug":"the-tall-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4274","title":{"rendered":"The Tall Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A quiet and remote location, a wintry cold, frightened townspeople \u2014 \u201cThe Tall Man\u201d has the makings of a classic thriller. And for a while, this movie from Canadian director Pascal Laugier has a chilly, compellingly weird atmosphere.
\nBut then Laugier allows the crux of the mystery to grow larger than life. The movie itself draws on too long, and eventually goes past at least two potential endings and heads right into the ridiculous.
\nJessica Biel, also the co-executive producer, plays Julia Denning, a nurse in a small mountain town that\u2019s apparently been decimated by economic collapse. If this were, say, \u201cPsycho,\u201d someone might comment that they moved the highway, and no one comes through anymore.
\nBut people do leave \u2014 specifically, the children. Abductions have gone on for years. The townspeople believe that a shadowy figure known as the Tall Man takes the kids, who are never heard from again. A few have even claimed to see him firsthand and lived to tell the tale. But no one knows for sure.
\nNow Julia\u2019s son is the latest to be abducted without a trace. She\u2019s no stranger to catastrophe. Her husband died in an accident, which still seems to be shrouded in mystery. Her only friends are a young mute girl and the town\u2019s sole Goth chick.
\nAs strange behavior seems to multiply, David Lynch-style, among the diner patrons, junkyard denizens and distraught housewives, it\u2019s clear Julia\u2019s view on these cases is clouded. But how much, and by what \u2014 or by whom \u2014 are the real questions.
\n\u201cThe Tall Man\u201d has more than a passing resemblance to an \u201cX-Files\u201d episode, so it\u2019s handy that character actor William B. Davis, aka the infamous Smoking Man from \u201cThe X-Files,\u201d is on hand to play a conspiracy-minded sheriff. Even so, one must apply a Rule of Bad Movie Decisions to this film: With so many abductions, why do these people stay in town? Surely there\u2019s an equally depressing, downtrodden burg nearby where children aren\u2019t being abducted?
\nWell, if they are going to stay, at least they have a nurse who looks like Jessica Biel. As an actress, Biel has yet to convince people she can do more than sexy action roles or eye-candy parts. If they need proof, exhibits A and B are \u201cThe Illusionist\u201d and \u201cHome of the Brave.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s laudable that Biel is co-producing her projects, and working with idiosyncratic filmmakers like Laugier. But \u201cThe Tall Man\u201d is ultimately a long mess.<\/p>\n

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