The movie was really solid in the first half but continues to try my patience the closer it gets to concluding. The plot is not entirely original but well-executed. The concept was interesting and as the story progresses, you start to care about what happens to the characters as much as what the answer to the question is.
I don't know if it's because the genre is psychological thriller which made me pay more attention to the nuances or if they've failed in being subtle but I figured out the answer (and what the question is) almost immediately. Still, I did hope that the ending would prove me wrong because it couldn't really be THAT simple (but I was right). So for me, the core of the movie (what is the question?) failed to intrigue. Indeed, it only served to disappoint so that's a mark against it for me.
How about the ending itself? The revelation of the magic pill was a little too scifi-y for my tastes. Also, I feel dissatisfied with how the person won since 1)the CEO cheated by messing with the timer and 2) the winner was mostly passive and in the end seem to win through sheer luck.
What I do like about it are the characters and the pacing. I like the fact that you get to see layers of the characters being peeled off and revealed as the story progresses. They start off as being stereotyped (quite literally, in fact) but as the saying goes, there is more than meets the eye and you realise that as soon as you think you've got one character pegged, s/he surprises you again. The pacing was good too, since it keeps your attention even though everything happens on one location only.
Overall, it was a good movie but sort of crashed and burned at the end.
I don't know if it's because the genre is psychological thriller which made me pay more attention to the nuances or if they've failed in being subtle but I figured out the answer (and what the question is) almost immediately. Still, I did hope that the ending would prove me wrong because it couldn't really be THAT simple (but I was right). So for me, the core of the movie (what is the question?) failed to intrigue. Indeed, it only served to disappoint so that's a mark against it for me.
How about the ending itself? The revelation of the magic pill was a little too scifi-y for my tastes. Also, I feel dissatisfied with how the person won since 1)the CEO cheated by messing with the timer and 2) the winner was mostly passive and in the end seem to win through sheer luck.
What I do like about it are the characters and the pacing. I like the fact that you get to see layers of the characters being peeled off and revealed as the story progresses. They start off as being stereotyped (quite literally, in fact) but as the saying goes, there is more than meets the eye and you realise that as soon as you think you've got one character pegged, s/he surprises you again. The pacing was good too, since it keeps your attention even though everything happens on one location only.
Overall, it was a good movie but sort of crashed and burned at the end.