Exposed – Review

Exposed is directed by Declan Dale, a pseudonym for a filmmaker who evidently wants to distance himself from this underwhelming project. A film that attempts to balance the surreal with the real – and fails miserably – the only thing that truly needs to be exposed is the real name of the director, so we can give him a piece of our mind.

Keanu Reeves stars as Detective Galban, who has the unfortunate task of uncovering the killer of his very own colleague. Having been murdered down in the subway one fateful night, the victim’s affiliations with the criminal underbelly of New York ensured he had many enemies, and attempting to narrow it down proves to be a thankless task. Appealing for witnesses, Isabel (Ana de Armas) may have been present in the station that night, but was preoccupied by a spiritual encounter she had with she perceived to be a ghost. She may end up being connected one way or the other, though, as her brother-in-law Rocky (Gabe Vargas), who was only recently released from prison, was pictured nearby.

Reeves is given a task almost as thankless as that of his character’s having to portray such a bland, generic creation. The pensive cop with problems – we’ve seen it all before. Instead it’s de Armas who is the very best thing about this lackluster endeavor, with an alluring presence, while also playing a role with an interesting angle. However, it’s one we deviate carelessly away from, as the director attempts to balance such a wealth of themes, without any sense of true focus. On a more positive note, it’s refreshing to see a thriller of this nature whereby the victim the entire narrative revolves around is not romanticized over, as we have no pity for a man who sounds like he was a complete ass. His grieving wife is really annoying, too.

It’s a shame to see Reeves turn out in such a disappointing picture, particularly after his electric comeback in the glorious action thriller John Wick. Though he had even declared his return during that feature (“I’m thinking I’m back”) – on this particular showing, it’s not nearly as good news as we had once taken it to be.