I Care A Lot has one hell of a bite. This movie is twisted, smart and darkly funny. This story has a new take on the classic man versus man, good versus evil archetype. Morality is thrown entirely out of the window, as this movie pits two terrible people against each other in a Girl Boss versus Mafia Boss narrative. Starring Rosamund Pike as Marla Grayson and Peter Dinklage as Roman Lunyov, these two characters battle it out in an incredibly strategic and brutal game of life, death, and money. This movie is framed in a way that makes you empathize with the worst of the worst, highlighting how far terrible people will go to get what they want. It does this while not making you hate anyone in the process – even when you should.
‘I Care A Lot’ makes you root for the worst
At every single turn, this movie is refreshingly smart. Following the theme of manipulation, the movie frames Marla Grayson like a protagonist even though she’s a terrible person who exploits the elderly on a regular basis. But as we see Marla Grayson twist the narrative in court to fit her means, the movie frames her in the same way. Even though we know she’s the worst human being ever, we can’t help but see her villainous charm and root for her when we know we shouldn’t. In addition to this, we shouldn’t be rooting for her rival, a cutthroat mafia boss, either. But we do because moral people are almost entirely left out of this movie. As the two leads engage in a brilliant struggle for power, and our knowledge is limited to what the characters know, making us as surprised as the characters are.
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Intense and edgy
This movie is paced in the same way that the main characters make their moves: calm and collected, yet intense. The movie is exciting, but not because of any super intense action sequences happening every few minutes. Instead, much of the thrill of the movie comes from intense conversations and power plays. The film has its share of high-action sequences, but the impact of these is heightened by these slower-paced strategic moves. This pace allows viewers to fully appreciate the intelligence and complication of what is happening. As layers of complexity are added, the movie makes sure that we have time to appreciate it before the next twist, up until the very end of the film.
The ending of the film really encapsulates the complicated positions viewers are put in. Even when Marla Grayson gets exactly what she deserves, because we’ve followed her story so closely we don’t feel the same satisfaction as we would when a villain gets bested. I Care A Lot is complicated, smart, edgy, and well worth your time.
