Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A different way of telling a story

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The main problem with Meeting Evil is the fact that for almost the entire running time it is devoid of a point or a plot. It didn't help that many scenes in the film either didn't make sense or weren't explained. I'll attempt to highlight some of the many examples;The early scenes between Richie (Samuel L Jackson) and John Felton (Luke Wilson) are fairly interesting. Richie has an air of 'mystery' about him. This is great for openers, but the problem is that the writers don't go anywhere with Richie's character and don't develop him at all. As a result, it starts to get a bit boring when you find yourself over an hour into the film and yet you still don't learn anything about him. It's quite clear that John has several opportunities to escape from Richie, but never utilises any of the opportunities that he's given - this makes the film less of a tense affair in my opinion. I also felt it was somewhat contrived that Richie was always able to find John, no matter where John decided to go. In a bar, in a corn field. It's almost like somebody kept rubbing a lamp.I also found some aspects of the narrative to be somewhat contradictory; Richie goes round killing people seemingly for no reason - the only thing he mentions to John is that 'he kills people that are already dead'. My interpretation of this is that he kills people who he feels have nothing to live for and would therefore imply that he would only kill people that he knows. However, throughout the film Richie seemingly kills lots of people who he doesn't know and that just happen to get in his way so again this seems somewhat contradictory. I also found it ridiculous when it's revealed that Richie is a hit-man that has been paid by John's wife to kill John. This explains why Richie kidnaps John, but doesn't explain why he killed all those innocent people. A hit-man is a paid assassin, not a serial killer. So was Richie a hit-man with a screw loose? And therefore was a serial killer rather than a hit-man? Or was he both? Answers on a postcard please.......The most ridiculous thing about this whole situation is when Richie said he couldn't kill John because he saw something in him, something in his eyes. This implies Richie has some sort of conscience, but again the fact that he kills lots of innocent people whom he doesn't know ultimately contradicts this? To say the narrative was messy in this film would be an understatement. Is it just me or did the police in this film seem to do no detective work whatsoever? They suspect that John is responsible for all the killings because he has a row with his wife and loses his job. Personally, I wouldn't even class this as 'circumstantial evidence' never mind 'actual evidence' or a 'motive'. What about forensics, fingerprints, ballistics, autopsies or post mortems? I could go on, but I think I've made my point.The only positive thing about this film is Samuel L Jackson. He was terrific and was far better than the material that he was given. I honestly don't know what an actor of his calibre was doing in this mess. Did he even read the script? Everyone else put in a decent performance, but all the actors were let down by some truly woeful writing.

The other reviewers who have stated this movie was confusing both in style and presentation are completely correct. The movie has a questionable ending, somewhat bland dialogue, and keeps you guessing till the end but for all the wrong reasons. *I have not read the book this movie is based on by Thomas Berger so i cannot speak on it's faithfulness to the source material.Acting: Luke Wilson has a pitiful performance as John Felton. As he is presented , John Felton is a man of little conviction whose lack of zeal has led him to unemployment, adultery, shame, and failure. Wilson, in the face of several arbitrary murders committed by Richie (Samuel L. Jackson) does not look submissive but rather indifferent. My point, he seems more carefree than scared and hopeless. The delivery of his lines are stale and tainted with a constant tone of confusion as if the script itself was difficult to read. He tells Richie, after pistol whipping his lover and threatening his wife, that he would "kill anyone who tried to hurt her" yet says these words with the same infliction as he does everything else. Bland performance. Samuel...Samuel...Samuel. I would disagree with anyone who would say he didn't deliver. Though there were areas in which he could have excelled much farther, I'm inclined to blame the script not his acting, for i found him to be both a convincing killer and mystery man. Perhaps it was acting alongside Luke Wilson's monochrome showing, but i found he to be both engaging and appropriately involved. In the rest of the cast, i found Leslie Bibb to have done a wonderful job, particularly during her verbal altercation with the police officer.Plot: Weak and uninspiring. I have never watched a movie which made me feel so indifferent about murder. The violence is presented in such a distant way (off screen kills, inaudible cries) that it is difficult to fully appreciate the carnage and its importance toward the film. In addition, to move the story along Fisher used the classic ACAD technique (All cops are dumb). Every moment there is a law enforcement officer on the screen you are guaranteed either a death (offscreen of course), unintelligible rantings, and disjointed dialogue (we think your husband, who is a Realtor with no documented history of such violence, walked out of his house this morning and brutally murder THIRTEEN people with no vehicle, or past documented violent behavior...and don't you have a life insurance policy on him <--what?). With the large amount of off screen altercations, i cannot call this a horror and with the barely excitable acting and dialogue and a damn predictable plot its barely a thriller or mystery. I gave it a six because i felt the premise (courtesy of Thomas Berger, its original writer) was interesting and there were a few good moments. Not worth going out of your way but if it every comes on television or if you have Netflix give it a watch.KL

....and confused as to what people expect from a film when they leave reviews on here. If you wish to watch a film that is easy to understand, has a beginning, middle and happy ending where all is explained so there is no doubt in your mind as to what you have watched then I think you will find most Disney films provide this. If you, however, enjoy a disturbing, complicated and different story that may leave you pondering the outcome then maybe give this a watch but do not complain if it was too complicated for your comprehension or you need a running commentary to explain what is happening or you cannot grasp the subtleties of the tale.Well acted on the whole, fast paced and I enjoyed it. Not the best film ever by a long chalk but also not the worse. Having suffered Iron Man 3 (being a huge fan of the current super hero genre) and being bored to tears on Christmas Day for two and a half hours I can honestly say I would rather have seen this.

This movie starts out somewhat interesting with SLJ playing his standard menacing character by rote. But the character played by Luke Wilson makes one mystifying decision after the next, defying logic and common sense. I can never understand why lousy writing such as seen in this movie gets a regular pass by the producers of so many movies. Maybe they don't even actually read the scripts and just are interested in "demographics".And the two detectives are more than bumbling; they are boring too. In an unintentional comedic bit of casting/writing; the two actors playing Luke Wilson' children, a boy and girl, look nothing like the parents and play deadpan throughout their on screen time. Even if they are supposed to be adopted, one would expect some emotion from them but it rarely shows.The alleged "twist" at the end is thrown in there along with the rest of the ridiculous inexplicable plot devices. Thus, a noisy nonsensical waste of time all around.