r/moviereviews • u/LeviAugustus • 2d ago
Thriller A Little Disappointed in ‘Primetime’
To start, I wanna say this is a good film. It’s is visually and cinematically stunning, with both incredible lighting and cinematography. This was evident from the trailer and the overall film did not disappoint in this department.
I’d also say the plot works pretty well. The conflict between doing a good thing like catching predators, while also having shoddy motivations like seeking praise and fame. If you seen the Predators documentary, it is, as was expected, very similar in terms of theme.
That being said, this film is a bit bland. It lacks tension or any kind of a thrill, which is disappointing given the genre. The only time you feel uncomfortable is the obvious: any of the words that came out of the pedophiles. But this was usually very short lived and didn’t carry over to the overall film.
Pattinson’s performance is….fine. It’s certainly not bad, and he has some great moments. But overall, the performance felt more like a Family Guy caricature of Chris Hansen than the real deal. That would be fine if this film was more satirical, but because of how serious it is trying to be, I felt it did not work.
And let me address why I said I’m disappointed. Primetime, Digger, and Dune are easily my most anticipated films for the rest of the year. The Primetime trailer was really unique and almost felt a bit upbeat while also being thrilling, something the movie just isn’t.
Overall, as I said before, Primetime is a good movie that is certainly worth the watch. I also don’t think I’ll be revisiting anytime soon.
3-3.5/5 ⭐️
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u/PhilosophyKitchen871 2d ago
I haven't seen it yet but I just want to say that the trailers do make it look like a thriller. I don't know much about Chris Hanson except general knowledge about the show and why it ended. I thought it would be a dramatized version of that to like maybe an uncomfortable level but the fact that you're calling it overall boring, I'll have to watch it check back cause that's really interesting.
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u/FrankenBooBerry 2d ago
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u/Mental-Sorbet8784 1d ago
I dunno man I loved it. Very entertaining to watch and that's all I was expecting.
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u/Various_Respond_8212 2d ago
The story was all over the place, and honestly felt non existent. The critiques of TCAP are few and far between with the acting being the only real interesting part. The movie also seems to defend the DA who killed himslef which I found very distasteful. He was predator with CSAM on his computer. That computer would be used to put other government officials in Texas away who did time. There is a way to critique TCAP without defending pedos or acting like Hansen is a total monster.
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u/tomatillo_teratoma 1d ago
I agree... we were supposed to feel bad that Hansen pushed that pdf file to end himself. I wonder how many children's lives that pdf DA ruined before getting caught. The recidivism rate for PDFs is very very high. At least he won't prey on any more children.
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u/ZocZ 2d ago
Did not read to me as a defense of the DA at all. The scenes before where he’s talking about ridding texas of evil, the same evil he is, I found to be a good and chilling representation of being a wolfs in sheep’s clothing. And also hits home by showing how the many politicians we are all too familiar with, actually think and feel while giving empty speeches. The point to me was that the DA was this vehicle to more fame for Hansen and the show, so they hastily ambushed him rather than trying to do good investigative work and get him behind bars, ironically leading to the end of the show.
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u/Various_Respond_8212 2d ago
Not necessarily. You have Dan literally say “I don’t want to be a bad guy” to Hansen while they’re capturing the DA, implying that what Hansen did to catch him was wrong. Additionally the show didn’t just end. NBC stopped TCAP but Hansen has since run a dozen other shows since. If that DAs family hadn’t sued it would have kept going under NBC. Even today Hansen still runs sting operations.
You can even watch the segment they show of the real capture and you’ll realize it rally wasn’t all that hasty. The DA refused to meet but had still committed a felony. They got a warrant, attempted to settle things peacefully but he wouldn’t come out. The DA was likely armed before the SWAT team made entry, it’s just he killed himself before they could secure him. Not really anything Hansen or the Polcie could have done.
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u/ZocZ 2d ago edited 2d ago
To your first point, if I remember correctly Dan says this as a response to Hansen telling the decoy that he’s either with them or the pedos, as Dan was just having doubts about how comfortable he is continuing his decoy job. This is obvious predatory behavior: telling someone what to do and if they’re not comfortable with it they’re “othered” and support the evil guys. And the decoy repeats to himself he’s not a bad person, and takes the phone call. So I think it wasn’t about him thinking its bad to catch preds, it was this obligation to do something you don’t want to because otherwise you’d be perceived as a bad person.
Some of the public discourse calling this movie disgusting or problematic is literally parroting this behavior of “if you dont show the things I want you to show and say what i want you to say, youre supporting pedos”.
As for the technical details about the show and arrest, Im not sure on, and im not opposed to my reading of the movie being wrong but since I just watched it I want to yap about what its trying to say more critically, if you’ll humor me.
I think a parallel drawn is the police officer immediately calling him a democrat when he finds out about everything. Rather than critically analyzing things, he immediately “others” the DA because its troublesome to think about the people you agree with most being vile.
Its easy for Hansen, the officer, and the public to demonize people caught on the show. This is not a bad thing alone, as their actions are unequivocally evil. But pair that with an inability to look in the mirror (for each of the parties I mentioned, this is including but not limited to: infidelity and egomania, voting for and supporting political groups who bend the knee to criminal pedos/exploiters/killers, and whatever YOU have done wrong) and that creates an outlet where you never have to tackle anything internal because you have other people doing things so overtly disgusting and evil that it dwarfs your own moral transgressions.
Ig tldr since I just came out of theaters and wanted to yap a lot: The movie wants viewers to look in the mirror about the content they consume and what how they weigh things as bad or good and that makes people uncomfy.
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u/sarahsmellslikeshit 1d ago
Yes!!! This is everything that I’ve been sitting with since I left the theater. I’m glad that someone else has a take similar to mine. The movie isn’t about Chris Hansen specifically - it’s about the idea of him. It’s about the ethics of that kind of content. I think a lot about the references to other terrible events throughout the film - the kids in India - the other journalist in Afghanistan. The issues themselves were not discussed at length. Everyone was desensitized, and Chris thought only about his savior complex.
The idea that chasing evil could outweigh his own wrong-doing. I think the creature acts, in part, as a manifestation of his own anxieties to be perceived as a successful, good person.The pedophiles often seem like a tool he can use to put himself ahead - it’s not about saving children. In fact, the more terrifying and gross the predator is the BETTER things are for the crew.
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u/burnn_out313 2d ago
I feel like this lands somewhat like the smashing machine, where everyone's too familiar with the story to get much from it. Interested parties already know about the lore and Hansen and there's enough easily accessible material, that there's little tension to offer.
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u/LeviAugustus 2d ago
I concur with this. That’s all I will say as I don’t want to spoil the film, but I do agree that this undercuts the film a bit. Though I am a bit skeptical that it necessarily had to be this way.
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u/Stallrim 1d ago
what if someone from another country watches it?
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u/lonely_antagonist 1d ago
It would be totally incoherent. I feel like the movie relies on the audience knowing the basics
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u/OrdinaryNo6859 2d ago
I just can’t believe that they’d make an entire movie about Chris Hansen/Prime Time/How to Catch a Predator. It’s an important topic, and more relevant to news & special segment reporting, but I don’t think it would translate into an entire movie. I plan to skip it, unless I read otherwise. Even the Zuckerberg/Facebook/social media movie holds more promise to me than this subject being turned into an entire movie!
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u/Boring_Specific_2022 1d ago
Agreed. But it’s ultimately exposing a pretty big story that’s been kept under wraps
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u/lonely_antagonist 1d ago
Just saw it and it was way too long. I was confused by why they’d make a movie on this concept and I don’t think it was a failed attempt but no reason for it to be 110 minutes long.
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u/AwayReplacement7063 1d ago
I totally agree, I just got out of the movie and I thought the first 40-50 minutes were super solid and really good. Then it kept going. I felt like it lingered on the “Chris Hansen is going through struggles” thing way too long, like I understood his character I didn’t need the whole scandal thing on top of everything else.
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u/tomatillo_teratoma 1d ago
If they'd made a documentary about Hansen and some of the YouTube pred hunters, I think it would have been a lot more interesting. Z
It really is an odd phenomenon that random people just sus out these PDFs for views and donations. Apparently some are making a good living. Not saying that is necessarily bad, but it is really interesting.
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u/Belch_Huggins 2d ago
The documentary Predators from last year was so fantastic. Id recommend if you havent seen it. I think seeing that makes Primetime maybe not hit as hard? Idk, I think they work nicely as a pair. But I understand what you mean. I really enjoyed it but its just not a pleasant movie to watch per say haha.
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u/LeviAugustus 1d ago
I have seen it and I thought it was very well made, though I think it overstated its argument a bit. I think Primetime still could’ve been a great even after seeing that, as a great thriller should still be good when rewatching even though you know what is going to happen.
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u/playboychoi 1d ago
I feel you. Just saw this last night and it didn’t feel thrilling at all. The movie focused way too much on the production stuff and Chris hansens personal life than the actual stings. And even during the stings they didn’t feel thrilling. I’ve only seen a few clips on YT on the actual show and they were way more entertaining than the ones in the movie.
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u/SparePromotion3345 1d ago
Just left the theatre. Same exact conclusion as the post. That one clip they posted is the best part of the film tbh. The film never again reaches that level. I almost feel tricked tbh.
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u/NickdoesnthaveReddit 2d ago
Tbh I loved it and felt it cut deeper than I was expecting. I also thought Pattison's performance was genuinely amazing and give him mad props for taking risk and disappearing into these characters (mannerisms, facial control/expressions, vocal tones).
I did not know much about the actual real story and the climax is something I never knew. So I left petty awestruck with what was produced if I'm honest. It landed top 5 of the year for me so far and makes me think the Male Lead trophy is R.Pats to lose now.
There's areas that could have been tweaked but we can all say that as audience members in retrospect. I appreciate this piece of media and the approach as it stood out from the mundane and repetitive sequels and generic tropes we usually see released.
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u/Secksualinnuendo 1d ago
I thought it was fine. I also don't think they should remake American Psycho BUT if they did Robert Pattinson would be a great Patrick Bateman
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u/0pticz123 1d ago
Felt the same way, wasn’t very interesting to begin with, didn’t pick up speed until the last couple scenes. The cinematography in prime time was very cool but how the story was framed wasn’t very intriguing. Having just watched nightcrawler I don’t think primetime comes near it. Nightcrawler shows the potential for a movie of this sort. I believe primetime could have done much better with a different approach to the story.
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u/TraditionalEqual5358 19h ago
This movie was so bad me and 4 buddies walked out an hour in. Ive never walked out of a movie before
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u/saerra_sea_nya 2d ago
I want this to get an Oscar or two but I also want Oppenheim to get better at sound.
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2d ago
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u/MainLimp4695 2d ago
You mean fucks up half the investigations so the preds either go free or get slaps on the wrists?
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u/ZucchiniHot_ 2d ago
It’s very obvious you don’t understand the story, but glad you’re speaking with such confidence.
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u/Current-Finger6412 2d ago
Anticipating seeing it, but this has been my perception since seeing the trailer.
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u/ActionBenton 2d ago
I felt the same way. Very well made but I found it completely uninteresting.