Film Review: In The Shadow Of The Moon

At the center of In The Shadow Of The Moon is a pretty ingenious genre mashup. What if you took the sweeping, character driven procedural narrative of something like Zodiac, but instead of just any serial killer, it was the Terminator? The film does take a while to reveal its central conceit, probably somewhere in the second act, but it would be damn near impossible to discuss its merits in any substantial way without getting into it.  It is the kind of film that lives and dies by the intrigue built into its premise.

Directed by Jim Mickle, and written by Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock, the film starts off in 1988, where we meet Officer Thomas Lockhart (Boyd Holbrook), out on a usual patrol when he and his partner, Maddox (Bokeem Woodbine), are called to a strange crime scene where an individual is found dead under mysterious circumstances. However, things take a turn when it seems like multiple people around Philadelphia have died the exact same way, all featuring similar unexplained marks on their necks. Thomas’ brother-in-law, Lieutenant Holt (Michael C. Hall) calls for a city wide manhunt, and the suspect (Cleopatra Coleman) is found, but she dies after an encounter with Thomas goes south.

The night only gets worse for Thomas when his wife dies during childbirth before the film cuts to nine years later in 1997. Thomas has been growing obsessed with the case, and the strange words he last heard coming from the suspect. But he finds out the killings are happening again, leading him to dive even further into the case, to the point where it starts affecting his relationship with his daughter. The film follows suit with his growing obsession with the case as we cut to him trying to follow the pattern nine years later in 2006, and again in 2015.

It’s an ambitious project for sure, and Mickle is certainly up for the challenge. While he may not have written the film, the way the film starts one way and slowly morphs into a whole other thing is similar to his last film, Cold In July, which is an excellent film. Sadly, I can’t say the same about this one. Though, it’s hard to put much blame on Mickle since his abilities as a filmmaker manages to keep things moving at a good pace, keeping you just invested enough. It’s not all the way bad by any stretch, but it does feel a bit thin, and a lot of the problems are rooted in its script.

The setup is strong, but there isn’t much in terms of specificity in the details beyond the general police procedural or sci-fi elements. It lacks the finesse and time to slow down like something similar to Zodiac. We only get glimpses of the lives of these characters, and they only inform the film in the most broad sense. Only a handful of scenes are given to show the character development that’s been happening over the course of four decades, and it doesn’t seem like enough is there to paint a full picture of the story and the characters.

Thematically, I like what it seemed to be doing at first. In the very start, we catch a glimpse of the future, and we see a disaster. An explosion has gone off, many people likely dead. We get an early understanding that the girl is coming back in time to stop this terrible thing, though the details beyond that you’ll have to see for yourself. I like the questions the film raises. If you had the ability to go back in time, and stop a terrible event from happening, would you do it? And how would you do it? Do you just get ride of the people directly involved? Or would you have to take out the people who informed the views of the perpetrators, so they don’t influence anyone else to do the same? The implications are big, and there is a lot to chew on. Sadly, the film spends very little time on this aspect, which is disappointing. There is also a racial component that the film brings up, but there’s also very little explored in that as well.

Boyd Holbrook is very good here. There is a lack of characterization, which holds him back a couple times, but he is clearly committed, and does a good job at emotionally grounding a story that gets increasingly outlandish as it goes along. He gets a few strong moments in the 2006/2015 segments with his daughter, Amy (Sarah Dugdale). When he’s bouncing off the various characters during his downward spiral, he digs into some really compelling stuff.

In The Shadow Of The Moon kept me engaged throughout the film, even though I became increasingly more aware of the flaws as the film went on. It has a good enough hook, Boyd Holbrook does a stellar job with the material he’s given, and Jim Mickle is a very capable craftsman, who gives the film a slick, stylish, and intense vibe. There are numerous missed opportunities, and avenues that I wish the film took the time to explore, especially in the finale, which gets bogged down by tedious exposition, but all things considered, it’s just a bonkers enough experience to entertain, which is certainly not a new thing for a Netflix feature. It’s an adequate execution of great ideas, and while the ride was bumpy, I felt like it was a ride worth taking.