Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My husband and I loved this. Perhaps the difference from some reviewers is that I enjoy reading the genre of romance and basically this is an amazing, romantic fairytale. It had all the elements I need to enjoy a great HEA. We have the sad and lonely heroine, the strong and supportive best friends (Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins), the tortured (in this case literally, tortured) hero, and the unrepentant villain. Michael Shannon made a fabulous bad guy, really embodying everything vile. He was a horrible, self-absorbed, arrogant, racist, chauvinistic jerk and it was enjoyable to watch him disintegrate (again literally and figuratively) as the movie progressed. I always like the bad guy to loose big in the end! Some reviewers mention bestiality but I think they are seriously missing the point here. This fantasy challenges us to rethink our own self-absorbed, arrogance. Perhaps, in thinking Eliza and the unnamed hero’s relationship is “disgusting,” we are uncovering a bit of Strickland in ourselves. This movie has it all- romance, action, dramatic angst, Russian spies, and even an Old Hollywood-style musical scene! I could not have asked for anything more!