Nice 1st part, poor 2nd part

Stan's final fate leaves some very problematic connotations regarding alcoholism and homelessness...
Are we supposed to feel sorry for Stan for ending up an addict and homeless or vindicated as if him ending up as the new "geek" is deserved punishment?
If it's the former, then this is just another instance of Hollywood glorifying a psychopathic narcissist conman (just like The Greatest Showman, Bad Education etc.).
If it's the latter, then it tarnishes the memory of the other unfortunate homeless people that were exploited. Is Del Toro implying that some of them maybe deserve to be taken advantage of because of their choices?

Really messy stuff...

Another Del Toro film that feels more like an excuse for showing off art direction than an actual film.
Bad pacing, kinda empty (very light on story, drama, tension, emotion or anything interesting in general), predictable, and even the acting is a bit hit or miss. I didn’t buy Bradley Cooper’s performance as a scam artist, and Cate Blanchett is really overselling it. The rest of the cast is pretty good though.
As already mentioned, the production makes up for a lot of the flaws, but I just feel like Del Toro’s talents would be better served if he’d chosen a career as cinematographer or art director. Besides _Pan’s Labyrinth_, I just find a lot of his stuff very dull and overly indulgent, often emphasizing style over substance. This thing is no different.

4.5/10

Stylish, noir elements, stellar cast... Should be a slam-dunk. But it isn't.

It is instead slow, predictable and ends of a really hammy callback.

Cant blame the actors who are all fantastic. The cinematography is excellent. Just a poor plot. And it is a remake I believe? I won't be searching out the original.


6/10

It’s a little bit (totally) [spoiler]fucked[/spoiler] up and it has no real direction or conclusion but what a movie! Excellently played by Cooper.
I’m not sure I’ll rush to watch it again but it’s definitely worth a watch!

Dreadful movie. Utter nonsense and waste of my time

Unnecesary long and not the best of Del Toro, in my opinion. Not really my jam, very boring movie

The overall atmosphere seems nice and well built. The film is however long, and in spite of the length the plot seems scattered and not fully developed or explained throughout. I had to rely on an external detailed review to make full sense of what was happening, as I probably missed some important bits due to the boredom and the not so clear narration, and still I would not find it so interesting (except for the highlight of the historical fact of these kind of funfairs). Characters were also not always properly developed. I guess, overall, that in general I may not like this kind of movies and plots.

I'll watch anything that has Cate Blanchett in it and she'll never disappoints. But....

The look and the great cast overshadows that this is just a story about a lowlife who bites up more that he could chew. It's an hour too long and the outcome was predictable.

And at about 23 m$ box office this has to considered a bust even with a budget of just 60 m$. So the names alone doesn't cut it.

I stand by my assertation that Bradley Walsh is a better actor than Bradley Cooper and Nightmare Alley is testament to this fact.
There wasn't even an alley!
Dreadful.

While I found the performances all great, for some reason it's hard to stay awake or interested in the film. Having seen the 1947 film, I knew what kind of journey I was going into. I came to see GDT's iteration of it with high expectations and was let down. I appreciate GDT tackling the monster genre without the familiar stigmas we see in his creature features, but this version is significantly too long and not so effective. I do like its striking visuals, paired with dark moody atmosphere and some visceral violence, and the ending hits pretty well but for the most part, it's just not the most interesting film.

I was hoping for more. This was predictable. The ending especially. I liked the atmosphere of it all but that was about it.

The performances from Bradley Cooper and Rooney Mara are great, the set designs fantastic and the film does transport you back to that era very well. However the pace and plot were slightly lacking for me, very slow in places and probably also slightly too long. Del Toro is no doubt a great director but for me this one just misses the mark.

This movie was a good watch. I don't think it was del Toro's best work, but it was good none the less.

My favorite thing about this movie was the way it was shot. The whole cinematography was amazing. The feeling of the movie was on point as well. You really felt like you were transported back in time into the 1940's.

I disliked the overall pacing of the movie. It's on the slow side, especially the 2nd act. I would have gave this movie an extra star if it wasn't for that long and slow middle part of the movie. The beginning of the movie really draws you in to this world. And the third act is when this movie really shines.

The whole cast gave really good performances. The writing was good too, nothing to cliche. Del Toro really is good at creating a unique atmosphere to his work, and this movie is no exception.

Overall this movie was good. Not great, not amazing, just good.

Easily one of the best movies I've seen this year. Cate Blanchett lays it on a bit thick, but everyone else in this movie does a fantastic job with what they are given.

I found myself nearly in tears because of how stressful the movie turned out to be. It made me care about an objectively awful character, and I knew where things were going, yet didn't want them to happen.

It's a shame it went up against Spider-Man. The kids have no idea what they missed out on. Unfortunately, this is going to be forgotten, whilst Spider-Man will be praised as a masterpiece. I really, really wish people would go see Nightmare Alley and stop funding Marvel's constant churn of hero quest movies.