Hold the Dark (2018) **

 

Director Jeremy Saulnier is no stranger to dark material, having directed "Green Room" and "Blue Ruin." With “Hold the Dark,” however, he reaches even farther into the abyss, maybe too far.

The story starts with naturalist Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) traveling to Alaska at the request of a young mother. Medora (Riley Keough) wants him to hunt down the wolves who she says killed her son and 2 other children in her remote, Alaskan village. She wants this done, if possible, before her husband Vern (Alexander Skarsgard) returns from the Iraq War. Russell discovers that there is a lot more to fear in Keelut, AK than wolves.

Should you decide to watch the film, you won't want any more plot spoilers. The film is full of surprises. Unfortunately, these surprises are not so much plot twists as bizarre, inscrutable actions on the parts of Medora, Vern, and Vern's friend, Cheeon (Julian Black Antelope). The choices these characters make are inexplicable using any moral code that I have seen or heard of. We are supposed to understand that these choices are the result of a wildness and darkness in these characters that results from living in the frigid remote wilds of Alaska. Saulnier and author William Giraldi, who wrote the book, appear to be making a profound commentary on the darkness that resides within all of us, but the message is too obscure for me.

2 stars out of 5