Netflix’s “Lou” - Movie Review
Lou is the newest Netflix film starring Allison Janney and Jurnee Smollett. The action-thriller film offers not much action or thrill.
The scene is set on an island off the coast of the state of Washington, right near Seattle as a storm slowly rolls in. Janney, who plays the titular character, Lou is living this ominous rugged cabin life where she seems to be secluded from life outside of her dog and it is made obvious she is struggling in what she hopes to make her last day.
Lou is a stone cold recluse and a suicidal former CIA agent, which would seem like a set up for a tough and intimidating character, but it just feels empty without a proper background. The attempts to build her character up fall flat as the viewers are barely introduced to her character.
Then in comes Hannah (Smollett) and her daughter, Vee - played by newcomer Ridley Asha Bateman, who own a house on Lou’s property. To Hannah and her daughter, Lou is a rigid woman who doesn’t seem too keen to Vee’s playful ways.
When Vee is taken in the middle of the night by her father (Logan Marshall-Green) during a heavy storm, Lou and Hannah team up to find her. This relationship doesn’t ever go in the right direction because Lou is standoffish, and not in an endearing way. Even the close connection made near the end felt extremely forced.
The storm was mostly there to add to the intensity of the chase but it doesn’t really add much to the story - it mostly just gets in the way of the story telling. Like the storm, there are many different plot lines that just aren’t followed through and are only there as poorly used story-telling devices.
On top of that, there was zero emotional depth to the characters which led to a twist that wasn’t even that interesting. The story for each character was built up but was then knocked back down like dominoes as the backgrounds were forced in as flashbacks.
With no context to these flashbacks until halfway into the movie, it still is very uninteresting. They attempt to build up Phillip, Marshall-Green, but it never seems to fully do so. Marshall-Green may look like Tom Hardy but he sure can’t act like him.
Lou is this tough former spy who certainly knows how to defend herself but only gets to show off her skills in two scenes and probably spends more time caring for her wounds than getting them.
Lou’s plot has been done before with movies like Taken and Kidnap, and they all seem to blend together in one big melting pot of mediocrity. Most of them are just a roll-the-dice-an-see-what-you-get kind of movie- which is never fun for audiences.
Overall Lou has a lackluster plot that has nothing original to offer. Completely forgettable the second the credits roll and brings nothing new to the thriller, action genre.
Rating: 2/5
Sophia Clements is a second-year majoring in communications. To contact her, email sbc6003@psu.edu.
