1948 / 100m - USA
Crime, Thriller
1.0*/5.0*
Key Largo poster

Watches

March 16, 2022

1.0*/5.0*

A noir film that is very focused on what it thinks its qualities are. I generally appreciate films like that, unless those assumed qualities are the exact things that push me away from the film. This character and dialogue driven noir may think it is very intense, but when it turns out to be the opposite, there's not much else there.

Frank is a war veteran who decides to pay the family of an old buddy living in Key Largo a visit. When he arrives at their hotel, it turns out a gangster is holding them hostage. Frank is the only one capable of standing up against the gangster, but the war has left his largely indifferent, and he isn't willing to give up his life.

This is a film where gangsters bark and Bogart does his best to play it cool. The setup in the hotel (with a hurricane raging outside) is tailored to be tense and nervous, but the effect is never really there. I got bored by uninteresting characters and a plain narrative. Visually the film has very little to offer, the soundtrack is also an afterthought and the ending left me completely cold. Not good.