Candyman (2021) Review

Yes, I am a bit late to watch this film but today I found the time to watch Candyman today and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees the return of the dreaded Candyman as he returns to where the franchise began. 

Main Character 

Yahya Adul-Manteen plays the lead character and I thought he did a good job in the role. There are certain issues with his character and well the majority of characters but I actually am going to give him the benefit of the doubt as I think he really gave it his all and tried to make his character interesting and certain elements of the film let him down, as when it comes down to it for me he is the best part of the film. 

Supporting Characters

Teyonah Parris plays his girlfriend and I liked her in the role too. They work well together and she again tries to provide something to latch onto when it comes to her character, between this performance and her future in The Marvel Cinematic Universe as Monica Rambeau things are looking good. I really like Colmon Domingo as an actor and he is good in this film, I mean he is basically the character who dumps exposition but he does it well and his presence is very effective in the film. But there were a few characters who annoyed me, mainly Nathan Stewart Jarrett, he is just way too much here and I get that he is meant to be the comic relief but he is just not funny and took me out of the film as it kind of felt like he was acting in a different film to everybody else. 

Story

An important thing to mention here is that you don't need to watch any of the other Candyman films to understand what is going on. I know this because, I have never watched a Candyman film and I understood the story clearly. Now there are some things I liked, mainly just how accessible the films plot was for somebody who isn't a huge fan of the lore, I found most of it interesting. Though there are some clear issues, there is a clear pushing of social commentary in this film and that is fine but they beat it over your head and after hearing it so many times it becomes hard to really care. There is also a rushed feeling to it all and the final act goes against what most of the story has told us and it basically becomes a generic horror with little depth. 

Script 

The script is the one element that really holds this film back, it is just not good. The film never hits the dramatic level that it should, there are some good ideas here but they are executed so poorly that it doesn't really matter. The humour is thrown in with little success and it just feels like this needed a screenwriter of the top level to deliver a better script which could fix certain other elements of the film. 

Style

The film looks fantastic, the cinematography is beautiful and I really liked some of the techniques that were used to show off Candyman in some of his glory. But the pacing of the film is all over the place, to put it politely it's a bit boring, it takes so long to get going that it just takes you out of caring about the film. Also I am not one for loads of gore, but this film had to show more violence instead of hiding it, it builds and builds but doesn't feel like it does enough in that regard.

Overall

Overall, Candyman is an average film that does disappoint as the natural sequel to the original film. Unless you are a big fan of the original then you can leave this film and watch other horror films as we get closer to Halloween. 

Rating - 5/10