Let's start this review off by saying that I'm no fan of Daniel Radcliffe. I honestly think he's one of those former child actors who tries too hard to escape that squeaky clean image that he developed over the course of the many years as that brat with a lightning bolt on his head. Unlike Hermoine, who had decent roles in This Is The End and to a lesser extent, The Bling Ring; he seems stuck in a vortex of mediocrity. So while I was unsure of Horns, I wanted to think that Radcliffe could do something with a bit more edge and escape that image.
Not happening.
The most glarring problem with this movie is it's tone. At some points it's a comedy, others it's a horror movie, and at other points it's a drama, with a bit of the crime-thriller genre thrown in. The transitions between these tones is awkward and messy. I take weekly dumps on The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for this reason as it's also a film that never quite knows what movie it is scene-to-scene. Horns suffers the same problem
Iggy (Radcliffe's character [Terrible name btw]) is distraught over the murder of his girlfriend, and the whole town blames him. Even though there's never any evidence that he did the murder. Which makes the residents of this town up for nomination for 'Largest Group of Idiots Ever'. The movie throws a few red herrings as to who the real killer is, but even those with half, or hell, a quarter of a brain, will realize who the killer is.
This quest to find the killer would be interesting if the film let you get interested in Iggy, but that's impossible. For the protagonist who's apparently innocent, he does a lot of shit that will make you hate him. He incites a brawl between journalists, he causes a man to flash his dick, and he even goes ballistic on a few people who are innocent. Who cares if they're innocent! They are not nice people to him, and he is the nice guy...except nice people don't attack people with snakes. Again, tonal shifts and general confusion. At this point confusion as to who your character is and what he represents is breaking a cardinal rule of screenwriting. I see the intent of this, they want you to think he may have killed his girlfriend; however that never quite achieves it's goal and you realize he's just on a nonsensical quest for revenge, or some poser album. The movie never makes this clear.
This movie is in a lot of respects in conflict with itself. Iggy is full of angst, which I'm sure tweens will love, but it also pushes itself as an R-rated film. People swear, have sex, and other acts of misdeed; but then the film doesn't show the maturity in the writing. So, it's the angsty drama combined with the mature imagery. These two don't work together, and if anything make the film a mess. It's like if Bella flashed her tits in Twilight, it just doesn't really keep with what the film is; or if some 13 year old swears. You know this doesn't have much validity to it or anything.
While the film teeters on what it is and isn't, by the end it just decides what film it is and betrays everything that it set itself up as. Now this is where I'll be spoiling stuff so
*SPOILERS* if you actually care about this angsty tween drama. The real killer is the childhood friend/lawyer of the main character (which btw looks like he's 22, way too young to be a believeable lawyer). Who in the first 20-30 minutes of the movie, in a flashback, makes a line that implies a deep resentment and jealousy of Iggy and Merrin (the dead girlfriend). This lawyer all of a sudden becomes a villain, as in illogically he just goes from somewhat reasonable to crazy killer. It's as i he's that killer Krusty doll with the Good-Evil switch. When he becomes Evil Lawyer, he kills Iggy, but Iggy comes back. This time he is no longer a dick, and wants to help the dead girlfriend's dad (who hated him for the entire movie) get closure. So the deucebag becomes the hero, and the supportive friend becomes the villain. No real hints outside of that hint of jealousy in the lashback. Iggy then becomes an angel, then a demon, then the lawyer and the demon/angel thing fight. This is the climax of the movie, and I couldn't bother to pay attention.
There's also a hilarious scene where Iggy forces his brother to do drugs, it's like the opening of
Super Troopers only infinitely less satisfying. Why does he do this? Because again, he's the hero and heroes do things like this. Especially when said 'hero' can force people to tell the truth, making someone do an excessive amount of drugs just pains everyone involved.
If you couldn't tell from this review, this film is a mess. It tries to examine themes of morality and try to tell an interesting murder-mystery but fumbles in it's execution. The acting, directing, writing; it's all terrible. That's the biggest shame is that on paper this is a decent idea and it just never comes across as anything more then badly written fan fic with sex scene or two, a Truckers junk, and a few swears.
Sorry Harry, but this shit wont live.
1/10 Uncle Joeys