Customer Reviews

Half Light

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As a fan of Demi Moore, I was very interested in seeing this film. Moore hasn't made many movies since the '90s. After "GI Jane" and "Striptease," she retired from her career for a few years to raise her children. She only appeared in two films, the weak independent film "Passion of Mind" and "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." From 1997-2005 is a long time to wait for a new Demi Moore starring vehicle, which is why I was so anxious to see "Half Light."

It is disappointing that there was no promotion whatsoever in the U.S. for this film. After seeing the film on DVD, I'm also incredibly disappointed it wasn't given a chance in theaters. Demi Moore needs a comeback. She is only 43, still in her prime, and constantly in the limelight due to her high-profile marriage to Ashton Kutcher. Obviously, she is still very famous, so why couldn't a Demi Moore film such as "Half Light" fare incredibly well in theaters? Take Julianne Moore, who is Demi Moore's age, in "The Forgotten," for example. That was a much weaker film than "Half Light," but it performed reasonably well at the box office.

I just don't think the executives in charge were willing to give Demi a chance, and that is a shame for a number of reasons. "Half Light" is an excellent thriller--full of suspense, beautiful scenery, score, and a luminous, emotionally-charged performance by Demi. It's probably her best performance. I admit I am a fan of the actress, so perhaps I am slightly biased, but I admit not all of her work was good. I still think Hester Prynne in "The Scarlet Letter" was her best role, "Indecent Proposal" was her best film, and now I know her very best performance was in "Half Light." You could compare her performance in this film to any other major actress working today and be pleasantly surprised by her talent (and ageless beauty)!

The story itself is wondrous, mysterious, creepy, and romantic. It has it all. There is a love story, an emotional drama, as well as a thriller all mixed into the plot. When a famous authoress loses her child in a drowning accident, she moves to a cabin on the coast of the ocean to get away and try to write. However, there are a lot of thrills and mysteries along the way. That is all I want to give away concerning the excellent plot. Keep in mind it is a story with a lot of subtlety and suspense instead of gore, like "The Others."

The best aspect of the film, and I think anyone would agree, is the love story. The screenplay and score are so good that you may have the music and dialogue in your head long after the film ends. The film belongs to Demi Moore most of all, though. Hopefully, she will someday receive credit as an actress.

I believe Demi Moore is an outstanding actor and she didn't disappoint in this movie in her performance. She plays an author in this movie who has to endure the death of her son. At first I thought her son was murdered but it turns out that was not the case and we find Demi hidding herself at a secluded ocean front home desperately tring to regain some reason for living. It is during this time she sees visions of her son, finds messages from him and falls in love with the keeper of the lighthouse, who truly is not who you think he is.
For a little while you may feel this movie is moving way too slow, but it is building up to a very suspenseful conclusion and one that will surprise you. Suspense, action, romance and a 'never saw it coming,' conclusion awaits you in this movie and is certainly worth your time.

I love it, it has mystery, romance, scary and sad. All set in Scotland in a lighthouse. Demi is sexy and the movie has twisty turns. Good for a rainy, stormy night!

My wife and I saw Half Light on the shelf at a local video rental store and decided to take a chance on it. We'd never heard of it (which surprised us since we're usually pretty hip to what movies come out at the theatre), but the description on the back of the DVD box intrigued us.

We loved it so much that, when it was over, we immediately ordered a copy from Amazon!

Half Light features stunning cinematography and a breathtaking soundtrack, full of Celtic instruments and delicate passages of music that -- combined with the images on the screen -- completely captivated us. We couldn't take our eyes off the movie. In fact, we kept telling each other, "Boy, wouldn't it be great to live there! What a beautiful location!"

I guessed what was going on about half way through the movie, but that didn't detract from the suspense we felt throughout the entire movie -- real, actual scares and not cheap shots with sound effects or someone coming up behind the actor on screen and grabbing his/her shoulder.

I love a good spooky movie. But so few are made these days. Either the CGI monsters are so goofy that they're laughable, or the writing is pedantic and stupid, or the premise is half-baked, or all the actors looks like they stepped out of TV show The OC, as vapid as any human beings can possibly be.

Half Light delivered the goods, never once disappointing us. The acting was first-rate (especially the Gaelic locals). The cinematography was nothing short of gorgeous. The soundtrack is something I hope exists because we'd love to own it. And the story itself was believable. We couldn't have asked for more from a movie and, in fact, were totally blown away by Half Light because we didn't expect much at all.

I have no idea why Half Light seems to have gone straight to DVD. It's easily one of the best movies we've seen in years.

I highly recommend Half Light.

HALF LIGHT (a title with a lot of meaning revealed only at the conclusion of the film!) is a fine, atmospheric, well-acted little drama that explores belief in the beyond and its impact of post-traumatic responses to death. Written and directed by Craig Rosenberg (Hotel de Love) the story challenges the viewer to enter the strange world of afterlife and consider the fine differences between illusion and credibility.

Rachel Carson (Demi Moore in a fine performance) is a successful writer living in London with her disillusioned editor husband Brian (Henry Ian Cusick) and her young son Thomas (Beans El-Balawi). In a freak accident Thomas drowns and Rachel is devastated, and deciding that her marriage is indeed over she moves to a little quaint Scottish island cottage where she can devote her mind to her writing. She is a loner, talking only on cell phone to her best friend Sharon (Kate Isitt) in London, until she meets her neighbors the Murrays (James Cosmo and Joanna Hole) who befriend her. She begins to see visions of Thomas, talks to him knowing that he is just in her imagination, until she meets some townspeople who undermine her belief in departed spirits.

There is a lighthouse off the coast and Rachel boats out, meets the lighthouse keeper Angus (Hans Matheson who is remembered for his Marius in 'Les Misérables', as Nero in 'Imperium: Nero', and Yuri in 'Dr. Zhivago' and Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex in 'The Virgin Queen' - the latter two being TV miniseries). Slowly the two develop an attraction and affair, only for Rachel to find out from the townsfolk that Angus has been dead for seven years! At this point the mystery takes precedence and the intricate truths of a terrifying plot unfold: the race to the ending is filled with surprises and unexpected events.

The cinematography by Ashley Rowe and the musical score by Brett Rosenberg add enormously to the mood of this piece. HALF LIGHT is a solid movie, filled with suspense and well-written story and character development and deserves far more attention than it received in the theaters. Demi Moore proves again that she can handle dramatic roles well and Hans Matheson is most assuredly a young actor to watch! Grady Harp, January 07

I am not a real Demi Moore fan, but she was awesome in this movie.
The plot was good, where it was filmed was beautiful and the other lead actor was very handsome!!

I love the mysterey and plot turns, all in all it was a great watch!

The only problem I had with Half Light is that I wanted more and more scenery. The movie is so cinematically beautiful it took my breath away and pushed me to do a Google on renting cabins on Scotland's wild coast. Only occasionally do movies do a decent job using place as a main character in the storyline. Other fairly recent movies which accomplished that mission were The Shipping News and the Chinese film, The Long Journey Home. Each of them offered artistic "scenes" that could be singly frozen and framed and hung up on the wall. In any event, Half Light is a grand thriller which does not use a lot of blood and gore or phoney music buildup to overcome a rotten plot full of pathetic shallow characters. Half Light builds character and the psychology of that character very well. In some ways the movie reminded me of Demi's ex, Bruce Willis' Sixth Sense. There is a feel to Half Light which had me wondering if Rachel wasn't the ghost herself as she struggled to make sense of her life without her son as well as how that loss would allow her to move on as a human being and as a writer. Half Light was a super "ghost" movie but it was also haunting in its use of scenery and useful silence scattered here and there, that I could watch it more than once or twice. It was fun to figure out the "foreshadowing" in various places in the movie. Foreshadowing which I caught almost right away included Rachel's walk past the graveyard and exchange between her and the Reverend. Other shadows of things to come: the love interest Angus, standing on the pier as Rachel motors away in her boat just before she discovers the reality of that character. Great movie. I don't usually buy movies but I will buy this one to watch on late nights in early spring or late fall just before winter

Imagine my surprise when I, not a huge Demi fan, happened upon this movie I'd never heard of one night on cable. Much to my delight I was hooked after about 10 minutes and it kept me on pins & needles the whole way through. This has to be the best acting I've seen from Demi, and the Angus/patrick character was also very good. Demi had such a powerfully vulnerable presence in the film, and you could literally see the different emotions come over her face like storm clouds as the events played out. It was like being on an emotional rollercoaster with her character - she really drew me in, made me care, and showed the aftermath of a child's death in a way that will haunt me long after the movie itself is over. That combined with the extremely suspenseful plot full of unexpected twists and scares, was a great combination that will leave you wondering at the end how they accomplished this with such a simply produced movie. A film this good should have been seen by u.s. audiences in the theatre. This is first time I've posted a review on a movie, so you can tell I felt strongly about this one!

I've never been a fan of Demi Willis-Kutcher. (-:
Having said that, I think my assessment of this film holds more water (no pun intended).

This film is well acted. Demi doesn't over do it. She is right on the mark and reacts with true realism. Perhaps her affect is slightly altered by some obvious cosmetic surgery(ies), but it doesn't effect the outcome at all. Her eyes are intense and she portrays the mother with precision. I simply feel this film is carried by her acting. She is in 95% of this film. The casting director, director, producers did well in hiring the cast.

The "town folk" are, as well, played well. This film has a grass roots feel to it. The settings are powerful, without negating from the acting. You're eyes and mind are only pulled away for a moment by the backdrops.

The writing is slightly predictable. Yet, the acting is contrition for that. You'll also note the directing is very "Taylor Hackfordish". I only note that as an homage. This film is entertaining. The way the OLD directors used to "do it". It's fun and only slightly horrifying.

My ONLY complaint with this film is the soundtrack. The train wreck of compositions are OVERTLY LOUD. This seems to involute as the film presses on. Yet, in the first few scenes, the music is out of place and annoying.

All in all this film is fun. You may not watch this film more than once, but you'll enjoy that one viewing. I also think that the MPAA is way off here. This film deserves a PG-13 rating. I've seen more gore in prime time, network television. Suspenseful, attention getting and gripping story of mourning leading to insanity, or does it?

I loved this movie. Demi was absolutely beautiful against the gray and brooding Scottish backdrop. The story was a little predictable but held my interest to see how it turned out. If anyone knows where I can get the soundtrack score to this, please post it on here.