By Adam Dunseath

A24’s most recent film starring Robert Pattinson has garnered world-wide acclaim from reviewers, receiving 86% positive reviews from critics on rotten tomatoes.

“Primetime” has been a major financial success, earning over $54 million since its release, making a profit against its $14.5 million budget.

However, the positive reception isn’t shared by the star of the film, Robert Pattinson, who plays central character, journalist Chris Hansen who presents ‘To Catch a Predator’. Pattinson has expressed his distaste for his character, claiming Hanson is “so detached, so unhinged, so dark, so unlikeable.”

The movie doesn’t claim to be a biopic.

Screenwriter, Ajon Singh said: “I was not really interested in a biopic, I wanted to create something heightened, stylized and subjective.”

The show unequivocally succeeded in that goal as the eerie atmosphere the film creates from the opening scene remained all the way to the end. It used unique camerawork, blending CCTV-esque shots with highly stylised cinematography to convey the heightened emotions of the characters.

It also hinges on the performances of the cast with many viewers calling for an Oscar nomination when award season rolls around. Pattinson brings an off the wall performance of a man whose life is crumbling due to his own self-importance and hypocrisy. The Hansen shown on screen finds himself trapped between claiming he’s “fighting an ancient evil” by putting the predators he catches on tv, and fighting to become the number 1 show in the world. These objectives cannot co-exist and it leads to Hansen’s self-imposed duty of rooting out this evil falling to the wayside in favour of chasing “The Whale”.

Overall, the production is absolutely worth the watch, and it can give an interesting insight into the sometimes dark world of vigilante justice.