SWEETHEART (2019)

Studio:      Blumhouse
Director:    J.D. Dillard
Writer:      J.D. Dillard, Alex Theurer, Alex Hyner
Producer:  Jason Blum, J.D. Dillard, Alex Theurer, Alex Hyner, Bill Karesh
Stars:     Kiersey Clemons, Emory Cohen, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Andrew Crawford

Review Score:

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Summary:

Stranded on a deserted island, a shipwreck survivor discovers she is being stalked by a deadly amphibious creature.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Jennifer Remming goes on an ocean excursion with her boyfriend Lucas Griffin, Mia Reed, and strangers Brad and Zach. After their boat is destroyed during a storm, Jenn washes ashore a deserted island.

Brad also ends up on the island, but dies from his wounds. Jenn buries Brad’s body only to find it dug up and missing the following morning.

While swimming, Jenn discovers a bottomless black hole in the ocean floor not far from the beach.

Jenn fires a flare when a plane passes overhead during the night. Jenn fires too late for the plane to spot her, although she illuminates a frightening creature standing in the sea.

Jenn sleeps inside a hollow log for protection. The creature attacks Jenn’s log, but returns to the water at daybreak.

Jenn uses a small shark caught by spear-fishing to bait the creature the next night. However, the creature merely tears the meat from the rope and disappears again.

Zach’s dead body washes ashore bearing unusual knife wounds. Jenn uses the body to bait the creature, but it escapes again.

Jenn builds a suspended hammock so she can sleep out of the creature’s reach. The creature still pulls Jenn down, but she manages to hide until the creature retreats at dawn.

After a full week passes, Lucas and Mia arrive on the island in a raft. Jenn warns Lucas and Mia that there is an amphibious monster that drags its prey back to a hole in the ocean, but they do not believe her. Jenn proposes escaping the island in the raft, but Lucas and Mia furtively refuse to leave.

Jenn finds blood on Lucas’ pocketknife. Jenn also becomes suspicious of Lucas and Mia’s relationship. Jenn tries fleeing in the raft alone, but Mia knocks Jenn unconscious and Lucas ties her to a tree.

When Jenn recovers, Lucas confronts her about their troubled relationship. Jenn asks Lucas what happened to Zach, but they are interrupted when the creature attacks Mia and pulls her into the ocean.

The next day, Jenn and Lucas pack the raft with supplies and set out to sea. Jenn notices that the inside of the raft is covered in Zach’s blood.

The creature attacks the raft and pulls Jenn underwater. Jenn fights back using the pocketknife. The creature attacks Lucas and pulls him into its hole instead.

Jenn returns to the island. During daylight, Jenn prepares kindling and makeshift spears for battling the creature. The creature swims ashore at nightfall for a fiery final confrontation. Jenn ultimately kills the monster.

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Review:

Picture Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” except he’s a young woman. Now instead of a volleyball, imagine Wilson is a fish monster. That’s your simplified summary of “Sweetheart.”

Jenn’s ocean excursion with her boyfriend Lucas and a few other folks should have been a relaxing dream getaway. Instead, it becomes an unthinkable nightmare after a shipwreck strands Jenn alone on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. At least, it appears to be deserted.

Resourcefulness kicks in quickly. Jenn’s impressive aptitude for spear-fishing and her instinctual foraging skills provide food. Ingenuity helps her construct shelter. Staying alive doesn’t pose much of a problem… yet.

When a plane passes overhead during the night, Jenn fumbles for a flare gun. She fires too late to attract the aircraft’s attention, but ends up illuminating a sinister shape standing in the sea. Jenn isn’t alone on the island after all. She’s smack dab in the domain of an amphibious nocturnal predator, and it is hungry for human meat.

There shouldn’t be too much to this review since there isn’t too much to “Sweetheart.” Mix one-third scavenge-and-subsist setup, one-third seesaw of suspenseful confrontations, and one-third late-inning revelations leading toward a fiery finale. Pour in a glass and enjoy an uncomplicated creature feature that functions fine as an aperitif prior to a heartier monster movie meal.

There aren’t many metaphors to be found. You could pull a muscle straining to search for allegorical arcs of overcoming emotional adversity, gender empowerment, or other parallels that aren’t actually there. Really though, you’d be doing a job the script didn’t. Don’t dig deeper than one woman versus one monster for 80 minutes. “Sweetheart” is as straightforward as a survival thriller gets.

The story opens immediately with Jenn already washed up on the beach. I wouldn’t describe her performance as overwhelmingly engaging, yet Kiersy Clemons creates a compelling enough character to carry prologue portions by herself without the absence of action becoming a burden. “Spartan” describes “Sweetheart’s” approach to just about everything and that certainly encompasses Jenn’s slim characterization. This movie is all about meeting minimums without overextending in terms of runtime, writing, or unnecessary complications.

A mid-movie reset occurs when additional people enter the picture. “Sweetheart’s” scenario compensates accordingly, which results in altered dynamics that won’t be to everyone’s liking. One gets the sense that the writers, and somehow there are three of them, felt the need to fatten the plot while breaking up extended silence with some conversational dialogue. It’s a halfhearted attempt however. They collectively abandon drawing concrete lines through certain circumstances. Although it’s easy to infer what the basic background is, there will be those who are rightfully frustrated that not everything is spelled out specifically.

The final faceoff also isn’t as epic as it ought to be. Basically, “Sweetheart” has problems producing payoffs when it comes to relationships, backstories, and the overall outcome of the tête-à-tête anchoring the entire affair.

“Sweetheart” still has it where it counts and that’s mainly in its monster. Producers correctly chose to not cut a corner in that department and hired Neville Page, one of the industry’s best makeup effects designers, to create the creature. Although early minutes are predictably/appropriately/expectedly stingy about how much is shown, we definitely get good long looks at the vaguely Innsmouthian entity in furious fighting form as the film rolls along.

“Sweetheart” earns three stars out of five, a nice notch above average, because although it lands below the technical quality level of a similarly-themed theatrical thriller like “The Shallows” (review here) or “47 Meters Down” (review here), it ranks above a run-of-the-mill fish flick from Syfy. It’s something you’ll only watch once. But anyone whose open attitude correctly calibrates for lean, light survival frights featuring a cool creature against a competent competitor should be pleased with the production.

Review Score: 60

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