After watching this movie, which is new to Hulu, I will give you my honest Boston Strangler review. There have been many stories about the infamous strangler in tv shows but not many movies, so this surprised me when I first heard that Hulu was releasing an original film. I love the storyline because it is based on true events, but after watching the movie, I thought some things definitely needed improvement.
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This movie is historically accurate to what happened in the 1960s. It includes the details of the crime and investigation, even the victims’ names. That’s one thing I think they were able to do right because they kept the movie as accurate as possible. I appreciated this because I love true stories. Keep reading to see if we recommend this watch or not.
What’s the Boston Strangler about?
Here is a quick overview of the movie if you haven’t seen it or don’t know about the Boston Strangler story. Loretta McLaughlin is a reporter, and she is the first one to be able to connect the dots on the murders. She gets help from another repeater named Jean Cole, and they can challenge the sexist norms of that time and continue to pursue the story, even with significant risk. The two reporters discovered a corruption that cast doubt on who the actual killer was. Loretta was determined to solve the case no matter the male-dominated world she lived in. She was able to shed light on an important section in American history.
Keira Knightley stars in it as Loretta; you might recognize her from the Pirates of the Caribbean or Pride & Prejudice. Carrie Coon, who plays Jean Cole, you might know from Ghostbusters: Afterlife. The movie could have been great with these two actors if the writers and directors had put more creativity into it.
Boston Stranger review: We think it’s a total bust!
The movie is supposed to be your typical suspense and thriller movie. However, I didn’t feel any suspense when I was watching it. I was expecting to be at the edge of my seat. I might know the history of the Boston Strangler, but I was hoping the movie could provide more tension than it did. There could have been more creative thought because the storyline is great, but dragged out for too long.
Not to mention, I couldn’t see the movie half of the time because there were so many dark scenes. I don’t know what they expected viewers to see. We definitely understand the dark themes of this killer without the whole film being lit that way. Even when I had all the lights off in a dark room, it didn’t help contrast anything to see what was happening on my TV. I was disappointed because I wanted to see a more modern-day movie based on this popular historical crime wave.
They had great actors lined up for this film, but it didn’t help them with how they put together the movie’s narrative. Journalists at Variety also think they could have done much more to the film, but just let it fly overhead. I couldn’t agree more with that statement because I thought they could have made it much more dramatic and nuanced.
Who was the “Boston Strangler?” SPOILER!
The good thing about this movie is that it didn’t leave us with any uncertainty because the real identity of the “Boston Strangler” is known to everyone publicly. Even though DeSalvo confessed, there was much uncertainty regarding the truth of the thirteen murders for some time. Boston Strangler ended on the right note in the sense that it reveals what we know now to make all the connections
Overall, I won’t be watching the movie again. Even though the story is great, I wish they could go back and work on everything else they did wrong like the lighting and filming. I wouldn’t advise you or friends of mine to watch it because there are so many other true crime tv show and movies out there that will capture your attention more. We hope this Boston Strangler review saves you the time because in our opinion, there are better things on Hulu to watch.
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