And Soon the Darkness: More Than a C+, Less Than a B-

Generally speaking, this film isn't original, or kitschy, or bad, or great, but if you have the patience, it's decent as a one-timer film to sit down with.  Based upon a film made about 40 years earlier with the same title, (so we're talkin' remake...although the reason why isn't really clear.  This film simply doesn't stand out), And Soon the Darkness follows the story of two young, pretty, American girls traveling through Argentina (and despite popular belief that this would never happen, having actually traveled parts of South America myself, I can say that this is totally common and I saw plenty of American pairs of women traveling).  They decide to stray from a bike group and spend their last night hanging out in a small little town.  It's obvious that these girls are here to have a good time, and are given the awkward, almost pensive looks they probably deserve by wearing cute shorts and tanktops and not being able to speak very good Spanish at all and laughing quite a lot.

They go to a bar, one girl is more reserved and mopey about a failed relationship, the other just can't seem to stop from keeping a giant sign on her head that says "AMERICAN GIRLS LIKE TO GET RAPED" by dancing seductively to the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself" and giving everything that looks male a wink and a smile.  Of course, she's pretty trashed by this point, but from the git-go of the film, it's plain to see that she would probably do this sort of thing anyways, but maybe with a little less effort.  Meanwhile her friend just keeps texting the Ex and continues to look blue.  Oh yeah, and Drunk Ass actually tries to hit on one guy (an always-damn-good-looking Karl Urban) by walking in after him into the bathroom and being all like "oh, the women's bathroom was locked, oh no, tee-hee!" and tries to get a peek at him and then watches him while she pees.  Nice try, bimbo.

And then the film goes where you're expecting it to go and the girls are involved in a dangerous situation that could cost them their lives, or at the very least, their dignity.  Needless to say, the film got more interesting when the slut gets kidnapped, because then her screen time is significantly less and we focus on the less-dumb girl.

The acting is fine, the situation is very real and was carried out well, and the scenery alone is pleasant to see.  It's a bit slow at first, but like I said, once the idiot is gone, it gets a bit better, and there is a scene that is worth looking at just for the landscape.  It's an abandoned town which stands in ruins amidst a shoreline and has these really trippy twiggy skeletal trees that look like they came straight out of a "Swamp" card in a Magic the Gathering deck.

Most people seem to hate this film simply based upon its gratuitous, flat cliche storyline.  To me, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't special in any way, which many take to be bad and stupid.  Can't exactly blame them, but then again I'm much more generous to all cinema.  As the title reads: more than a C+, less than a B-.