(This review may contain spoilers).
Having watched and enjoyed the previous two movies in this franchise, I was very excited when I saw the trailer for this one, even though I try not to get too hyped up before watching a movie.
It was good that this movie went straight into the action. I found myself immdiately drawn into the plight of the characters; but this movie won’t make any sense if you haven’t seen the previous two. I’d even go so far as to say rewatch them in preparation for seeing the third.
Perhaps the best part of the movie, at least in my opinion, was the friendship between Thomas and Newt. I loved their interactions and I felt they were the strongest characters in this movie.
I felt that Frypan in particular hadn’t been developed through the three movies. I would have liked to see more of him than just being a tagalong, which was what he came across as.
I didn’t really think much of Brenda in this movie, I have to say. There was considerably less of her sense of her self-preservation and more of her acting foolishly. It’s even stated in a conversation she has that she’s acting out of character. I liked her relationship with Jorge, but I didn’t really like her.
While I felt there was some attempt to give Teresa more depth, I didn’t really like her either – and I thought that Ava’s own arc was left hanging when it could have been explored in so much more depth.
Parts of this movie were very intense to watch, but the zombie-like cranks weren’t as creepy as they had been in the second movie.
I did like that there were some small elements of humour to offset the tension and it was also good to see a return of one of the previous characters and the conflicts that arose from that.
This movie didn’t really let up on the action or intensity and even though the cranks lost a lot of their effectiveness from the previous movie, there was still enough to make me care when they were attacking the characters.
I’ve seen this movie twice at the cinema now and plan to see it a third time. I also intend to buy it on DVD when it comes out.
If you’ve watched the previous movies in this franchise, I strongly recommend seeing this one.
Ink of Blood 