June 13, 2023

Reptile is on Netflix and is a mystery/thriller starring Benicio Del Toro and it is the entry for the June Swoon 3.

According to IMDB, “Tom Nichols (Benicio Del Toro) is a hardened New England detective, unflinching in his pursuit of a case where nothing is as it seems and it begins to dismantle the illusions in his own life.”

Benicio Del Toro is always great and this is no exception. He is well cast in this murder mystery and you buy everything that he does. Justin Timberlake stars along side Del Toro as a scummy real estate agent whose girlfriend is murdered. Interestingly enough, I buy him in that role very much too.

The acting is excellent. The story is less so. Honestly, there were times when I would start losing focus on what was happening and it felt as if the story became too messy as it continued. The film is well over two hours and you feel that run time. I think this could have been tighter with 20 minutes cut out of the film.

However, there were some good points, especially Del Toro’s performance. He is the later actor to take what is an average script/film and elevate it with what he does. In the hands of a lesser actor, Reptile would be a sub par film. What makes this watchable is Del Toro and his connections with the other actors around him.

One of those actors is Alicia Silverstone, who played Tom Nichols’ wife, Judy. The relationship between them was one of the best parts of the film and more of it would have aided the story.

I’m not sure how I feel about the resolution of the mystery, but I did think the final scene was strong and very tense.

In the end, Reptile has its moments, but feels too long and is unnecessarily complicated.