You Were Never Really Here

2018 • 89 minutes

About this movie

A former Marine and ex–FBI agent, Joe has seen one too many crime scenes and known too much trauma, and not just in his professional life. Solitary and haunted, he prefers to be invisible. He doesn't allow himself friends or lovers and makes a living rescuing young girls from the deadly clutches of the sex trade. But when a high-ranking New York politician hires him to extricate his teenage daughter from a Manhattan brothel, Joe uncovers a web of corruption that even he may not be able to unravel. When the men on his trail take the only person left in the world who matters to him, he forsakes his pledge to do no harm. If anyone can kill his way to the truth, it's Joe.

Ratings and reviews

ESTABLISHING SHOT: THE MOVIE. There's a balance between dialogue, action, and atmosphere and I don't think I've ever seen a movie tilt this hard to atmosphere. The script could've been 4 pages long if you only included dialogue. I see what they were doing, and it did wrap up well, kudos for an enjoyable ending. But the movie itself was a slog. Yes, I get the juxtaposition between (relative) calm and quick, brutal violence, thanks, I got that 10 minutes in. Fine to watch, won't rewatch.

Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor, but I don't think the writing for this movie did him any justice. I really didn't get the "veteran suffering from PTSD searches for girls forced into sex trafficking" vibe from him in this movie. It was more like "middle age man still dealing with childhood abuse has a thing for fantasizing killing himself on a regular basis and clearly needs a therapist". The ending is unfulling and has too many loose ends.

It's okay. It's not an action movie, and the action parts fall flat except for a scene 2/3rds the way through. I was rooting for the main character throughout, but it has some jarring tonal changes. Somehow, it's too long despite being 90 minutes. it is worth a watch, but dont go in expecting an incredible story or memorable characters. It's a neat short story that keeps you engaged, but never reaches any really satisfying moments or conclusions.