Josh and Dena are passionate about their cause: the environment. Tired of small measures, they team with Harmon, a shadier character who can help them pull off an act of eco-terrorism, the bombing of a hydroelectric dam.
Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are idealistic and young. They figure this revolutionary act will prompt people to think about what they’re doing to the environment, which you and I know is almost never how it works. What happens in real life is that we’re angry about the disruption to our lives. In the movie, however, what happens is even messier. The greatest impact they have is on themselves.
Night Moves isn’t so much about the environment as it is a character study between these three individuals trying to make a statement, and then living with the consequences. It’s slow, almost plodding. There’s no flashiness, just a creeping sense of guilt and paranoia.
The thing is, Jesse Eisenberg is a one-note actor and I’m damned tired of that note. He wears this grimace that tells us the world is just painful to him, like how can his pinched little rat face be expected to live in a world with us plebeians? He got lucky once with a role whose neuroticism suited him perfectly. Everything else has been derivative, and while it might have been slightly funny to watch Mark Zuckerberg get chased by zombies, I just don’t buy him as an eco-thug, bless his entitled little heart.
Otherwise I think Kelly Reichardt puts together a uniquely character-drive film that defies classification. It pushes us to challenge what we think of as “natural” and ratchets up the tension with increasing themes of alienation. What Reichardt doesn’t do is decide for us.
ASSHOLES WATCHING MOVIES 
Ha!! Poor Jesse Eisenberg. But you do make a good point!!
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Good review of a film I’ve wanted to see for a while. It’s on my list. Lol, not holding back on your Eisenberg comments, eh? But yeah, a pretty one-note actor at best.
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Yeah, it made some decent rounds at festivals but never got a big release.
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I liked this movie a lot. I think I’m one of the few that likes Jesse Eisenberg too. lol
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It sounds like Jesse needs to branch out into new roles!
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I think he needs to branch out into retail and leave acting forever.
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Yeah, I’ve only saw Jesse in a few flicks (four to be exact) and it was very much the same character. Which works fine in those movies. Can’t imagine watching him in something ‘serious’ and I may pass on this one if I see it appear on Netflix.
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I think his little rat face suits the Lex Luther role nicely 😊 and he did Mark Z very well, but not really in a rush to see him in anything else.
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Timely. Since people seem to think that acts like these actually do something other than piss people off.
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Totally on point about Jesse Eisenberg!
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