Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
A Chicago artist's sanity starts to unravel, unleashing a terrifying wave of violence when he begins to explore the macabre history of the Candyman.
Nia DaCosta's Candyman is visually striking, with inventive shadow-puppet sequences and a bold, stylized aesthetic that elevates its cinematography well above average. The film engages meaningfully with themes of systemic racism, gentrification, and Black trauma, giving it some thematic weight. However, the plot becomes muddled in its second half, juggling too many ideas without fully resolving them, and the ending feels rushed and narratively unsatisfying, failing to pay off the emotional and thematic groundwork laid earlier. Acting is competent but uneven, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II delivering a committed physical performance that is somewhat let down by thin character writing.