‘The Park’ is Rudderless and Muddled [Review]
Tyler Doupe'
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An abandoned amusement park is a choice setting for a horror picture. The locale provides a built-in atmosphere and ample opportunities from a narrative standpoint. Sadly, Shal Ngo’s The Park doesn’t quite nail the execution and we are left with a somewhat muddled effort that features dicey performances and never quite achieves greatness.
The Park unfolds in a dystopian reality where every adult on earth has succumbed to a viral infection. The only sector immune to the virus is prepubescent. As such, what remains of the world is ruled, Lord of the Flies-style, by resourceful youngsters that have managed to survive off the land, using their wits. The film follows a small group of children that set up camp at an abandoned amusement park. That’s the long and the short of it.
The film meanders, never really delivering much in the way of suspense or a great deal of carnage. Given that The Park is a genre offering, that approach proves to be a bit anticlimactic. I spent most of the picture’s runtime waiting for something to happen but eventually concluded this is more of an existential offering. And that feels like a waste. The setup has promise but the story doesn’t make effective use of it.
The lack of direction is compounded by somewhat tricky performances. The characters that the child actors are playing have been forced to learn to behave like adults because adults have been eradicated from the earth. As such, the youngsters have been dealt a rude awakening. However, the performances don’t quite reach the level of nuance required to make that distinction entirely believable.
Acting isn’t an easy craft to learn. It can’t be mastered overnight. That’s why a film solely starring children is tricky to pull off. Many child actors don’t have the level of experience that their grown counterparts do, nor do most have the life experience to pull from when conveying complex and layered emotions. None of this can or should be blamed on the kids that star in The Park. Each of them has so much potential and each shows a great deal of promise. But this particular effort didn’t quite reach the level of believability necessary to pull this viewer in. Accordingly, I never felt truly connected to the narrative.
The other struggle is that the central characters aren’t scripted as particularly engaging. It’s reasonable that they aren’t overly likable. They are dealing with a very heavy situation and have more pressing concerns than ingratiating themselves to the audience. But they aren’t particularly accessible, either. So, I ultimately felt disconnected from the leads, in addition to having some difficulty getting on board with their performances.
Further complicating matters, a lot of the dialogue doesn’t feel natural. And that’s not the fault of the onscreen talent, more so than it is the fault of a script in need of some fine-tuning. The characters these kids are playing have had to grow up way too fast and should demonstrate a certain level of maturity on that basis. But some of the exchanges see them behaving as more advanced than they should be, and others, less so. It’s like the dialogue vacillates between too juvenile and too adult, unable to find that authentic sweet spot.
Also challenging, the narrative isn’t exceptionally compelling. We’re sort of left to observe the central characters as they struggle to coexist and grapple with the harsh reality that is their daily existence. This picture is very character driven. However, the characters, as I mentioned previously, aren’t quite strong enough to carry the story when the narrative is largely lacking a sense of direction.
The result is a film that unfolds somewhat aimlessly and lacks protagonists in which the viewer can easily invest. The film’s visual aesthetic is well-rendered and the amusement park setting makes for an interesting backdrop. But there isn’t quite enough going on from a narrative standpoint to make effective use of what could have been a highly effective locale.
If you’re keen to check the flick out for yourself, The Park is available now on VOD.
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The Park
Summary
This dystopian horror effort never quite succeeds at captivating its audience.
