'Longlegs' Can't Survive a Messy Third Act

As of this writing, critics are praising “Longlegs” for the most part. For the first two acts of the movie, I’m right there with them. However, a sloppy third act left me with more questions and disappointment than anything else.

The movie is the latest effort from director Osgood Perkins and it follows FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she tracks down a serial killer in the 1990s. The killer somehow forces a family member to kill their family and themselves and he is known as “Longlegs” (Nicolas Cage). Lee seems to have limited psychic abilities and is brought in on the case to help track down this elusive killer.

As I mentioned before, I was with the movie for the first two acts. It has a psychological horror tone reminiscent of “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Se7en”. The movie is set in the ‘90s yet feels timeless. Perkins’ direction is solid and there is a satisfactorily eerie tone at first that invades the film.

Maika Monroe sets out to find a killer in 'Longlegs'.

The performances are also great. I think Monroe turns in a solid performance as the odd Lee Harker, a woman who has the ability to track down a killer but is socially cut off from almost everyone else. And Nicolas Cage… well, he’s Nicolas Cage and you’ll either like his performance or not based on how you feel about the actor’s previous works. For me, I thought it was a solidly wild performance that I could get behind.

Things were moving swimmingly with the story until I reached the third act. For me, this is where the movie took a sharp right turn and got a little too messy for its own good. What was once a police procedural psychological thriller suddenly enters into a more supernatural space but fails to provide satisfying answers to the question, “What the heck did I just watch?”

That was my problem with the movie. By the time the credits hit, I simply thought, “Oh, that’s it? Okay, I guess.” I realized not long after that I was left with more questions than answers and the answers I got weren’t wholly satisfying.

As I mentioned before, I was with the movie up until the final act. Therefore, I can understand why someone would enjoy the movie. I went with two friends to see the movie. One friend seemed to like it more than I did while the other friend hated it way more than I did.

For me, I’m in the middle and while I definitely liked certain aspects of the movie, I can’t quite recommend it.