Hold The Dark Review: 4 Ups & 3 Downs

2. Jeffrey Wright And James Badge-Dale Are Great

Despite not being the driving force of the movie's main action, but being present for most of it, Wright's wildlife writer Russell Core gives the audience a deeply sympathetic lead, who acts the perfect observer to increasingly insane events unfolding around him.

His look and presence are solid and strong, while also being vulnerable, something that hearkens back to his background as a man who survived around wild wolves by killing one, having "no choice" but holding no anger, and a deep love for the animals.

Though he's capable of taking care of himself, there are much more dangerous elements surrounding him, and his ability to survive it, even in his advanced age, is something the audience will easily love him for.

As a policeman who feels much like a hero in the story, despite Wright's Russel Core being the lead for most of the film, James Badge Dale plays a likeable, smart, kindly figure in Donald Marium, whose presence in the film's gorier parts gave it more weight.

For the latter half of the film, Marium and Core make a great team, their stories compelling and making for more sympathetic protagonists than the murderous Sloane.