The Shape of Water

Watch Movies TV -***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion (or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching!  Tame down your hardcore fan fiction, give it a beautiful coat of visuals and throw in some great performances and you too can make a movie about odd creatures and humans showing their love physically.

The Shape of Water – 4 out of 5

I think Guillermo del Toro is an amazing director and storyteller.  He crafts some unique tales and delivers them with visuals that are capable of being both haunting and beautiful.  As an incredibly versatile artist, he can deliver drama, horror, action and fantasy.  The Shape of Water intrigued me because it was a love story between something that resembled the Gill Man from Creature from the Black Lagoon and a lonely woman.  That concept is certainly…interesting.  I wanted to see it earlier but never got around to it.  Recently, I finally got to check it out and discovered another fascinatingly gorgeous tale from the man who gave us such awesome features as Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, and the Hellboy franchise.

I'm disappointed that this film never addressed what the actual shape of
water is though.

Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is a lonely mute working as a cleaner at a secret government lab during the Cold War.  One day the lab brings in a mysterious creature that was captured in the Amazon River by Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon).  The bosses decide that the creature is to be killed but Elisa has formed a bond with it.  With the help of the government scientist Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg) and her neighbor and friend; Giles (Richard Jenkins), Elisa helps free the creature (played by Doug Jones).  Elisa plans to release the creature back into the wild before Strickland comes after them but she soon finds her relationship has evolved and the woman and amphibian man have fallen in love.

She doesn't like the fish man.  She like likes the fish man.

The Shape of Water might be the most unique love story I’ve ever watched.  I remember thinking that I would find the love story concept behind the movie Her to be strange but then was shocked to find that I found it oddly endearing.  The Shape of Water had this to an extent.  I will admit that I was sorta creeped out by the human/amphibian man relationship but, as the story progressed, I found their strange love a bit sweet.  One of the roadblocks, however, that held me back was the idea that I felt their relationship evolved too quickly.  When they first meet and Elisa is sneaking away to spend time with him felt like it moved very fast and their blossoming love seemed to move even quicker.  Beyond the fact that both characters are lonely, I really didn’t see much between the two to form the connection that they had.  However, as the film neared the end, I started to get consumed with what the two were feeling and I found myself 100% behind their relationship.  To put it simply, their love is developed effectively well despite my initial thoughts.

Somewhere, a MAGA fool saw this movie and muttered to himself, "See, this is
exactly what I said would happen when they legalized gay marriage."

My reluctance over the very core concept of the film aside, visually I found the feature absolutely gorgeous.  The use of vibrant colors clashing with dirty and somber tones made for a movie that really drew in the eye.  Combine this with the intricate sets and costumes and it made for a film that was an absolute feast to look at.  Even if I possibly couldn’t get into the love story, I knew that I would have walked away thinking I still had seen a beautiful film.

The look of a scientist who has had the unfortunate luck of cleaning fish man
poop.

Richard Jenkins is a national treasure.  I love that man!

Finally, the performances in The Shape of Water are amazing.  Sally Hawkins says so much without saying anything and this formula is mirror by Doug Jones in the amphibian man suit.  While sign language is used on occasion with these two, most of their “words” are expressed through their body language and they are telling so much with so little.  Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg and Octavia Spencer (who is a work colleague of Elisa’s in the film) are all very talented performers in their own right and they show it off very well in this movie.  Finally, Michael Shannon once again astounds me with an incredibly intense performance that was utterly addicting to watch.  He made Strickland a villain that you loved to hate but also wanted to see more of.

I've actually met this man and he was very down-to-earth and nice but I quickly
forget that when I see him act and think of him only as the intense
villain he is so good at playing.

The Shape of Water proved to be a movie that I was initially a tad resistant to but ultimately found a powerful tale of love that holds real beauty and meaning.  The film is visually astounding and filled with performances that are top shelf stuff all across the board.  While it’s hard not to question whether or not del Toro decided to make this movie because he wrote fan fiction about Abe Sapien and his sex life while on the set of Hellboy but, that aside, the film is a damn impressive piece of work and wondrous in its own very unique way.