Apostle

It is amazing how much Netflix has to offer to everyone, in all ages. It does not matter what kind of movies you enjoy, or TV series, because you can basically find anything on Netflix. Now, i have to be honest and say there are a lot of Netflix own TV series i have not seen. I have not seen all the Marvel TV series that they have made either, except for Daredevil and Luke Cage. Even if i do like these TV series, i just spend more time watching movies on DVD, Blu Ray or VOD instead, so i have a lot to check out in there. But i do have some really good recommendations of films that Netflix have made. Let´s start with the African drama Beasts Of No Nation, a really powerful and emotional movie about the brutal life of children soldiers, under the command of military leader Commandant ( brilliant acting from actor Idris Elba, one of his best performances ever if you ask me ). The film was critically acclaimed and touched many people, for the brutal portrait of how a military leader can destroy ordinary people´s lives for his own benefits. So you should definitely check Beasts Of No Nation Out on Netflix, a really good drama movie. Also in 2018 i watched The Ritual on Netflix, a horror movie The that turned out to be surprisingly good, that is supposed to filmed in the North of Sweden ( nice to see that they film quality horror films in my home country, if only Swedish horror films could be this good ). One of the reasons why The Ritual is a good horror film, is because of the creepy settings in the forest, where some kind of creature is watching them. Director David Bruckner clearly wanted to make a horror film that focused more on feeling creepy, than using the traditional jump scares that most horror films do. This is also a movie you should see on Netflix, especially if you love horror movies. I guarantee you will enjoy The Ritual. As there are a number of TV shows coming out from Netflix, and movies produced by Netflix as well, i try to check some titles out. And i came across a film that have been critically acclaimed called Apostle. A drama horror movie about an odd religious cult on a isolated island. One of the things that made me curious about this film, is to see actor Michael Sheen as a religious cult leader. I appreciate several of his performances in films such as Frost / Nixon and the emotional drama movie Beautiful Boy. I also noticed that this film is directed by Gareth Evans, who have directed both The Raid movies, two of the best martial arts action films in many years. So this is definitely a very different genre for him to explore. With such an amazing actor as Michael Sheen, and a very talented director on board, is Apostle a must see for all ages, or is this a film you might as well avoid ?

In the year of 1905, Thomas Richardson ( Dan Stevens ) travel to a remote Welsh island to rescue his sister Jennifer ( Elen Rhys ), who have been kidnapped and held for ransom by a mysterious religious cult. Not to reveal his true identity, Thomas pretends to become a new member of the church. He encounter the leader Malcolm Howe ( Michael Sheen ) who is waiting for the ransom money. Malcolm does not know the real reason Thomas is on this island, but it will be hard for Thomas to hide the truth. As he gets closer to the cult members, Thomas can tell that there are much more darker secrets on this island. What are they really doing here, what is their real purpose ?

Since i love cult religious movies for showing the insanity they bring with them, i have to say that Apostle is better than i expected. This film is really disturbing in many different ways. Most of all this film shows how easy it is to take power over people who don´t have any goals in life, and just let themselves be controlled by someone they believe is their leader. This film also clearly shows, how easy it is with a very sick individual who wants to control other humans, that he can use anyone he wants for his own advantage. Michael Sheen as the cult leader Prophet Malcolm is absolutely brilliant. He really goes full in for this character, and he clearly have some really big mental problems that he can´t control. It must have been a big challenge for Sheen to make this character believable, since there are so many different cult leaders out there in this world. But he clearly knows how to make his character feel like a disturbed cult leader. I also really enjoy the performance from actor Mark Lewis Jones as the cult leader member Quinn, who is just as disturbing as Prophet Malcolm. He also gives a very strong performance that will leave a big impact on you. At first you might think that this is a film that only portrait the cult in a very ordinary way, but this is where Apostle takes a completely different turn and go right inside a much more disturbing direction with a really dark and twisted tone. There are some scenes that reminds me of the Satanic cult movies of the 60´s and 70´s, and this is where Apostle manage to find the right tone to tell the story more effective. In fact i was reminded of The Witch Queen in the Vin Diesel movie The Last Witch Hunter, since there are some similar elements here when you see what is going on underneath the ground. Of course this works much better in the Apostle, since the settings looks much more evil and dark than in The Last Witch Hunter. The dark tone of this movie fits really good with the location of a crazy religious cult, especially when certain people are mentally unstable to operate a church. The costume design is also one detail i have to say works really good here, during the year of 1905. And the cottages where the cult members live is also well captured for this time period. Director Gareth Evans have clearly worked hard to make this film work as a religious cult horror drama, and he knows how to tell the story very effective with great acting and great characters. Apostle manage to be really effective as a horror film, and a powerful drama as well. Since the new year of 2019 has just begun, Apostle is a really good start to celebrate a new year ahead.

Rating: DDDD