Movies
“Reptile” Trailer Reaction
“Nichols, a hardened New England detective unflinching in his pursuit of a case where nothing is as it seems, one that begins to dismantle the illusions in his own life.” […]
“Nichols, a hardened New England detective unflinching in his pursuit of a case where nothing is as it seems, one that begins to dismantle the illusions in his own life.”
Director: Grant Singer
Writers: Grant Singer, Benjamin Brewer, Benicio Del Toro
Staring: Benicio Del Toro, Justin Timberlake, Eric Bogosian, Alicia Silverstone, Domenick Lombardozzi
Release Date: October 6, 2023
IMDB
Reptile (2023) is a crime thriller that focuses its attention on a hardened and emotionally fragile cop by the name of Tom Nichols, played by Benicio Del Toro. Nichols is investigating a murder of a real estate agent in a Northeast community and while in pursuit of tangible answers about the killing, the lonely cop finds himself underneath his own interrogation light.
The trailer for Reptile uses the lyrics of Juice Newton’s famous song Angel Of The Morning. It is a nice metronome for the preview and a foreshadowing tool regarding shadiness and cover-ups. Based on some context clues, one could infer that Will Grady (Justin Timberlake) is part of the church. He dresses like a choir boy and seems saddled with Irish Catholic guilt. But where does his guilt stem from? Is Grady the murderer, or does he know something but feels pressure to keep quiet.
We at one point see Tom looking at a photo of a gagged angel mere moments after a short clip of Tom walking in a small red painted church. Is it a bit of clever editing, or is that painting in the church? It would be a weird place to have a piece of art depicting a voice of god being silenced, but perhaps that is why the deceased had her life cut short? Perhaps she wanted to pull off that gag and shout out, but someone else didn’t want the truth out there.
Grady is the boyfriend of the murdered real estate agent, and his lack of emotion (at least shown in this trailer) makes him a prime suspect. However, there are others considered. At the midway point of the trailer there is a gathering of curious minds where the four major suspects are listed: the boyfriend, the friend, the creep and the ex. If Reptile can effectively knot us in this mystery and then untangle it in a satisfying way, then we are in for a quality slow burn mystery.
One other aspect of the Reptile worth unpacking is that there are plenty of shots that have and/or use a mirror. The idea of self reflection is in the log line itself in regards to the main investigator Tom. We see characters flipped as the camera plays tricks with us. We see characters avoiding looking directly into mirrors and others look at themselves through a very framed lens.
Director and writer Grant Singer is stepping into the motion picture game after years of award winning experience with music videos. He has won various MTV movie awards for The Weeknd and Daft Punk’s Starboy, and Taylor Swift and Zayn’s I Don’t Want To Live Forever. Singer has also done commercials for Apple as well as a myriad of short films and concert performances.
Reptile is set to premiere in Toronto then stream on Netflix on October 6.
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