Fantasy Island (2020) has fun lost behind a dreadful presentation

A reboot of a television series, Fantasy Island comes with a great wrapping but the present is a bad dream.

Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare)

Written by Jillian Jacobs (Truth or Dare), Christopher Roach (Truth or Dare) 

Starring Michael Peña (Truth or American Hustle), Maggie Q (Truth or Divergent), and Lucy Hale (Truth or Little Liars)

     A plane flies in, someone yells "The plane," and a bunch of tourists are invited to live out their fantasies. This is how most episodes of the television show started, I am told, and the show went on to tell "be careful what you wish for" type morality tales. I never watched the original show, but I hope it didn't fall as short to the premise as this movie did.

     Like I said, a bunch of people get dropped off on the island of Mr. Roarke (Pena). Two brothers are looking for fun, a single lady is looking for purpose, a young woman (Hale) is looking for revenge, and a guy is looking to play war games. Each of them gets something they want only to find it's too much. But just as they get a handle on things, they find out Mr. Roarke has more secrets to uncover.

     If you get on with most things that come out of Blumhouse, this one has more than enough promise. It's no Get Out or Happy Death Day, but it's well shot and acted well enough. That being said, the overall plot falls apart near the end. The hidden secrets revealed near the end are groan-inducing that could have been done better or left out entirely. 

     Watching this movie reminded me of watching The Lone Ranger. I liked the world, I liked the tone, and the writers take on the material, but little things gathered steam until the whole thing felt like a trainwreck. In Lone Ranger, that was Johnny Depp and a fast pace that felt like it packed too much into the plot. Here's about the same, the actors are ill-suited for the material and too many stories try to tie together near the end.

     I wanted to like this movie with all it's secrets, but in the end I left disappointed. Something's should be done right or left in the past, and resurrecting an old television show to tell a revenge fantasy just felt wrong.