Worrying about this film

A recent thriller film leaves audiences feeling confused and discontented

Actors+Florence+Pugh+and+Harry+Styles+portraying+Alice+and+Jack+Chambers+in+the+2022+film+Dont+Worry+Darling

Photo Courtesy of of IMDb

Actors Florence Pugh and Harry Styles portraying Alice and Jack Chambers in the 2022 film ‘Don’t Worry Darling’

Bowie Zekpa, Staff Reporter

In a society that seems to be based in the 1950s, happy couple Jack and Alice Chambers live their perfect dream lives which seems to be indestructible. Or at least that’s what they thought. Directed by American filmmaker and actress Olivia Wilde, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ tells the thrilling story of a freakishly perfect suburbia turned morbid.

This movie deals with themes of hierarchies and extreme misogyny, which is to be expected since it’s staged in the 50s. While the husbands go work at their savior company “Victory,” the women get to enjoy a ‘perfect’ planned out life. Filled with the oh-so-amazing luxuries of shopping, purses, dresses, gossip, dish rags and endless kitchen supplies. However, when one of the women starts to see cracks and unusualities in their flawless life, things start to crumble for Alice and everyone else in their model town, ‘Victory’ quickly.

The visuals and overall concept of this movie were extraordinary, with the superb casting, it’s hard to envision anyone else playing the roles in this movie. One actor that brought this movie to the charts being Harry Styles. Known for being an English singer and songwriter, Styles took on the role of Jack Chambers.

Picking apart this movie from an actor’s point of view, Styles’ performance really wasn’t all that revolutionary. While he fit the role, the other actors and actresses in this movie have worked to perfect this craft. Directors could attempt more to put Styles in movies while not making it look like he’s only there for the film to gain popularity. Styles did an excellent job at portraying the perspective of a panicked man losing control over something he’s never not had control over, but he definitely has work to do on illustrating certain emotions to an audience.

Many reviewers are in agreement that the film needs a second part. Being described as a ‘Jordan Peele film not directed by Jordan Peele,’ It’s apparent that Olivia Wilde was trying really hard to get a psychological sense in this movie. While the effort was very evident throughout the whole film, it didn’t live up to what audiences felt it said it would. The whole movie is basically a build-up. Bringing you to the edge of your seat with dozens of questions thinking ‘How will this all get solved in this short amount of time?!,’ and the plot twist is, it doesn’t. In psychological thriller movies, everything needs to be tied to an individual source. That way all questions can get answered even if it means the audience has to think about it for a while. In ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ the film promises goods it fails to deliver. Leaving audiences dissatisfied, upset and with multiple unanswered questions.

The soundtrack in this film is another one of the things that saves it. Having the touch of classic 50s artists such as Ray Charles and The Chords really helps set the scene. Not only that but the audio blending with different scenes or letting the pitches fail or go higher to give the sense of tension can help the audience feel what the characters are feeling even more.

Graphics and aesthetics in this movie are appreciable. It’s really nice and pleasant to look at, but it can’t make up for all the missed opportunities in it. This film had many chances to redeem itself but sadly plummeted back down every time. Maybe keeping Jordan Peele in the psychological thriller throne is what’s ideal. Saying the movie was a complete fail though would be overkill, I’d give it a 2.5/5.