Protraph Lack of good storyline.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

roberttidwell-comics I found Descent to be a largely provocative piece. This isn't a pop corn movie that takes it easy on the audience. It's hard to watch at points because it is a story about pain. It taps into an emotional core that really drives itself home.This is a story about pain and abuse, not a revenge fantasy. There are elements of revenge fantasies in it, but the real truth is that the story is a criticism of the need and hunt for revenge when someone hurts us. It's a powerful work of fiction. Maya, played by Rosario Dawson, is constantly the subject of transgressions until she breaks after being raped. And then the story gets dark.After watching this film, I was in a deep despair for a few weeks. In the same sitting I watched Lars Von Trier's Antichrist with Willem Defoe. This was the darker movie. This was the movie that wrapped itself up in my mind and took root. It nested and festered and wouldn't leave me go.I strongly recommend you watch this if you are interested in drama that messes you up. If you want something safe, happy, and warm, this is not it. If you want to cry because you have a broken heart because the perfect couple just can't make it together but then oh goodness they do! Stay clear. This is not for you.This movie will mess you up and it is important that it messes you up. This is supposed to be hard to watch. If that sounds interesting to you, watch this flick. It's one of the best I've seen, but I like movies that mess me up.

kosmasp I'm going to write about this movie and about "Irreversible" (the (in)famous scene in it). So you are warned, if you haven't seen the movie yet. This are just my thoughts, why I think the movie fails (in the end - pun intended).Acting wise, Rosario Dawson is really good and almost conveys portraying someone almost a decade younger (a teenager in other words). The villain guy is good, but loses his "evil" touch right before the end. If he really never changes, then why would he let a woman tie him up? He wouldn't, period. Then we also have the bartender/2nd rape Dude. Actually I don't think you would need him. At least not for the 2nd rape, but more about that later on.Let's reprise the story. Rosarios character is sexually insecure, might even have lesbian tendencies (see her scene with a female friend). This wasn't intentional, as Rosario states herself, but there is sexual tension between them. Rosario's character meets a guy, who is a sexual Predator, in all the bad senses. But he makes an impression on her.Rosario commented that her character had a boyfriend before. I beg to differ. Because she acts, as if it is her first boyfriend, which also underlines her phone conversation with her mother. Talking about her mother, here's another problem. After the first rape takes place, Rosarios character doesn't tell anyone what happened. Seiing that her relationship with her mother is a very close one, nothing of that gets explored after that. If Rosarios character wouldn't call her mother anymore or would behave strangely, the mother would be worried like crazy. There was so much potential here. Also her female friend: We see her at the party, it's obvious there is something going on and "boom" she is gone.The first rape is almost unbearable to watch. But feels like a pinch, when you compare it to the ending (rape), which feels like you're getting hit with a sledge hammer! After rape no. 1 we get too stretched out scenes. Threads are opened (such as her construction work is an indication that she might be lesbian, as one guy states who tried to hit on her ...), but left in the open. No real social contact is established, if you leave the bartender guy out, who is involved in the 2nd and last rape scene. It's apparent that he isn't a "nice" guy and his character get's fleshed out a bit. But when Rosarios character meets her rapist in class again, his being in the movie seems pointless. We get the point that Rosarios character isn't the same anymore, that she went "bad" and is able to hurt people. (Too) Many scenes show exactly that, her being without emotion just doing drugs and other stuff. Back to Rapist #1 who cheats on a test, gets caught by Rosarios character and they decide to hang out together again (really?). As absurd as that sounds, the guy meets up with her, not without us having seen him beforehand, with another girl (very likely that he raped her too, although we never see anything of that, fortunately) and his football career. Well career is a stretch and he is bullied. This is an attempt to give his character some depth and it almost works, but then again is too cliché to stay with you. So Rapist #1 submits to Rosarios character ... why exactly? Because he promised her, it was her day? Again, really? A guy like that never loses control, especially with a woman he raped before ... I guess this is supposed to show us how stupid he is. The bartender guy would have worked as someone who could have hit him over the head or something, but letting him submit like that, just feels wrong. Another possibility would have a drug in his drink.So rapist #1 undresses and get's blindfolded and let's Rosarios character tie him on a bed .... seriously, that's just crazy! But what comes next, is even crazier. First she talks to him, then she "shuts" him up and forces an object into him. This is as difficult to watch as rape scene number one. This isn't about what this guy deserves or not, it's just intense. And of course that was what they were aiming for. Now after she is "done" the bartender guy comes in and rapes ... rapist #1. If this really should work as a revenge movie, it would have been better if Rosarios character herself would have been doing all the "revenge". Having a henchman doing the job, takes away everything that was built up.This isn't supposed to be entertaining/enjoyable, it's a hard watch & it is Art-house. But the 10 minute (I didn't count ) rape scene at the end, just smashes everything. Rosarios character is more or less, only watching what happens. Which brings me to the biggest disappointment.Irreversible comparison: "Irreversible" had the rape scene, but the movie went on (even if it was back into time). Rosario is looking into the camera in the end and says something about having to get over this. First, that comes a bit too late, that should see her say that after the initial rape. And secondly and most importantly, this is where the Art-house movie should've come in. It is more interesting seeing were Rosarios character would go after the second rape scene and how she would cope, with what she had done. But then again, she didn't actually physically do that much (see above) ... a broken character that the movie cuts off ...Good intentions (Talia and Rosario had worked before), but failing to convey most of the things, they set out to do (even if you can see what they meant, it has to be convincing, otherwise it doesn't work) ... not to mention the overlong rape scenes as they are ...

bloodymonday It's excruciating experience to see "Descent" in one single watch. It shows how much humanity we sacrificed for the sake of vengeance. Just like a great companion "Hard Candy", this movie can easily teared down your emotion and left it as open-wounded.Rosario Dawson is Maya, a shy college student who, just like any hopeful young girls, wishes to meet a perfect man. At the party, she met Jared (Chad Faust), a passionate young man. He quickly makes a move to Maya. With all beautiful words and gestures he used, Maya finally let her guard down and completely trust that, this is the man whom she can spend a life with.Then, horror happened. Maya was brutally raped by Jared. Her ideal world seemed to crumble right in front of her face. Maya delved into the darkness as she spends her life in her own silent world. She works in a clothing shop where she just ignores everybody else. Spending time in dance club where drugs, boozes and stranger intimacy are her new friends.Months later, the story comes to last act when Maya and Jared meet again in the classroom. As insured, she has a plan. And it's a plan that Jared couldn't possibly think of. Strangely, he plays along with it. What we have here in the last 20 minutes is the most disturbing, depraved, twisted act that anybody couldn't possibly imagine.One can think of how cheerfulness to see our heroic trio in "Death Proof" got their revenge. The result is comedic-like, ultra-surreal ending that sure to satisfy by fans of exploitation films. "Descent" ignores the whole concept of exploitation thing and stick it firmly to the ground with its truthfulness. It's an act of vengeance in its purest form. And it goes on and on and on and nobody seemed to be happy about it.First time director, Talia Lugacy did an admirable job to explore this twisted world. One might think that she's overdone with Maya's downfall by putting excessive madness into the protagonist that almost overkill it. But with this powerful opening and ending, It's obvious that she has a rightfulness to tell this story straight.One can also admire the lead (and first time producer), Rosario Dawson, to put herself into an interesting career path. It's the role that any praises for her acting overshadowed by its controversial. But it's also a role that will re-define her body of work and create a significant part in her life. As she feels that she's capable to do everything from now on.In the final moment where the film just simply captures at Maya's face, it's effective. As they're both haunting and yet, strangely beautiful. There's not a single moment to show our protagonist satisfied in what she did, even she just thought so. It shows how much we wrong thought about "Revenge is a dish best served cold". Because it's ain't.

lastliberal This is a sandwich film. There is something on both ends, but the middle is a disappointment. So, what you get is a 15-20 minute film that lasts over a hundred. This is particularly painful as the lighting was atrocious, and the sound was weak.Maya (the lovely Rosario Dawson) is date-raped and descends into a sort of depressive state that leads to alcohol and drugs. That's the whole middle of the film where she ends up moody and club hopping until she decides to get her life together and go back to graduate school. It is there as a teaching assistant, that she confronts the rapist (Chad Faust) again, and, it appears, that she is going to resume the relationship like nothing ever happened.Surprise! She has something else in mind. She enlists the aid of Marcus Patrick to get her revenge. The setup is sweet, but the actual revenge borders on pornographic. Just as the rape was brutal, so was the ending.No, despite two sex scenes, you see nothing of Rosario.