Review: Reptile

Tom Nichols (Benicio del Toro) is a hardened detective with a checkered past. When he leads an investigation of the murder of a real estate agent, it ends up being a much bigger conspiracy than he expected.

I love murder mysteries like this. It felt like a book that I would've checked out at the library came to life, and trust me a lot of those books I read do not translate well to film. This one wasn't based on a book, but its beats felt that way to me.

Del Toro is always a great actor to watch. It amused me seeing his character married to Alicia Silverstone's. An Excess Baggage reunion for the ages. I had no clue Michael Pitt was in this either, and it was nice to see him in something again. Justin Timberlake, bless his heart, just cannot act. He's very weak here but thankfully he's not the main focus.

As far as the mystery goes, I was captivated from start to finish. While I did guess the killer correctly, I still liked watching the story play out because the "why" isn't clear right away. The 3rd act however is very underwritten. Things happen so quickly and conveniently that they really needed more time to properly bring these things together. Because of this, characters get thrown to the side and their stories feel unfinished. Apparently that's the theme with Netflix this week. Solid starts and rough third acts. This one at least faired better than Fair Play (no pun intended)

Grade: B-