Written by Oscar Boyson And Ricky Camilleri
Directed by Oscar Boyson
Solomon (to Balthazar): "You might be the first person I met who's weirder than me."
This movie could be filed under "wanted to like it, but didn't." I'd also file it under movies that I'm baffled critics actually. If I'm being honest, I came close to switching off about half an hour into it.
Obviously, I didn't. I powered through it but it wasn't a good time. I know it's a movie that was trying to cover a serious topic and managed to do it in one of the worst ways possible. It's almost offensive in how it dealt with the topic of a school shooting.
You've got a spoiled rich kid named Balthazar Malone (Jaaden Martell). He's a part of a school group that's trying to prevent school shootings but hes quickly revealed to be a disingenuous sociopath who exploits messed up online content to get a girl named Eleanor (Pippa Knowles) to like him.
This film was already on a losing streak because Balthazar's such an unlikable asshole of a character that I desperately wanted to spend less time with him. He took a sick delight in falsely accusing his life coach Anthony (Noah Centineo) of being a paedophile and complained about his mother, Nicole (Jennifer Ehle) missing his birthday.
The second half of the movie saw Balthazar going to extreme measures in order to stop disenfranchised loner, Solomon Jackson (Asa Butterfield) from actually shooting up a school. At no point did Balthazar's motives seem like they came from a sincere place but there's a decent time spent in exploring Balthazar's dynamic with Solomon and the latter's own relationship with his father, Beaver (Chris Bauer) and grandmother, Elaine (Becky Ann Baker).
The movie did live up to its title in the sense that Balthazar actually did succeed in stopping Solomon but it's mired by a cynical final scene. It's in that scene that Balthazar's true colours really emerged.
- Avan Jogia had a supporting role as a character named Supes. Beaver was a manosphere speaker.
- Balthazar went by Balty for most of the film. He also used his mother's voice to lure Solomon into meeting him.
- I'm not surprised this film got festival rejection, considering it's mishandling of it's subject matter.
- Chronology: Balthazar was from New York but traveled to Arkansas to get to Solomon.
Our Hero, Balthazar could've been a great film but it's let down by a bad lead performance, an unlikable protagonist and a haphazard handling of an important subject matter. It's probably one of the worst films I've watched this year.
Rating: 4 out of 10
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