Luce

Luce follows teenager Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) as he’s increasingly forced to confront his violent past, with the narrative exploring the impact the character’s decisions and actions have on the various figures around him (including his well-meaning parents, Naomi Watts’ Amy and Tim Roth’s Peter). It’s clear that Luce, at the outset, comes off as a fairly compelling high-school drama, with the film’s initial success perpetuated by a series of strong performances and an appealing undercurrent of mystery (ie what did Luce do in his past, exactly?) The growing preponderance of lulls within the picture’s midsection increasingly alienates the viewer, however, and there’s little doubt that the meandering bent of J.C. Lee and Julius Onah’s screenplay slowly-but-surely drains one’s interest and attention – which is a shame, certainly, given that it often does feel as though this is all leading somewhere compelling. (The problem is, ultimately, that it just isn’t.) The almost entirely uninvolving third act is compounded by filmmaker Onah’s handling of various subplots, as the director’s bizarre refusal to resolve any of these threads to any degree of satisfaction proves disastrous – with the hopelessly anticlimactic finish certainly confirming Luce’s place as a decidedly underwhelming and half-baked misfire.

** out of ****

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