Movie Review: A Cure For Wellness (2016)

Directed by Gore Verbinski (perhaps best known for the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, as well as Rango and The Long Ranger) is A Cure For Wellness, a 2016 sci-fi/psychological horror/thriller triple threat of a film. Dane DeHaan is Lockhart, a young but ambitious executive at a New York financial firm who is sent to a remote wellness clinic in the Swiss Alps to retrieve the company’s CEO, Roland Pembroke (Harry Groener). The clinic is run by the unconventional Heinreich Volner (Jason Issacs), and Lockhart seems to constantly run into the young Hannah (Mia Goth).

+ DeHaan is great, and I really felt for him as he slowly descended into madness (or did he?). For some reason, he really reminded me of Grant Gustin (aka TV’s The Flash). Jason Isaacs as head doctor Heinreich Volmer was suitably creepy, but had that charm about him where you would still trust him, even once his two-faced nature is properly revealed
+ the camera work is really good, helped in large part from the absolutely beautiful scenery. The wellness center itself is a grand old mansion/castle, but the surrounding mountains, forests and even the town at the mountain base look absolutely gorgeous

– there is a difference between good long, and bad long, and this movie falls well into the latter. At over 2 hours in length, I was ready for the plot to wrap up at least twenty minutes before it finally did, with very little of note happening in that time, outside of the “shocking” reveals. My mindset went from “interested” to “getting bored now”, and unfortunately it never escaped the latter
– the plot really falls apart after the first hour or so. Early on, as characters act strange and the clinic itself seems to shift off screen, I got an almost Lovecraft like vibe, but it soon turns into the same old ‘evil hospital’ setting we’ve seen too much. Frankly, the big reveal didn’t make much sense to me, either

Should you see this film: This film started out so promising, with an eerie atmosphere and a plot to keep you guessing. But by about 90 minutes, I was begging for death; either the characters’, to end the movie, or my own, to end my having to watch it. Don’t bother with this one.