a review of 傀儡凶手

Let's get it out of the way: This movie is totally worth seeing for Anthony Hopkins' performance as both the troubled magician/ventriloquist Corky and his dummy/murderous alter ego, Fats. But ultimately I felt like there were some key pieces missing. For one thing, I didn't buy that Corky was either a particularly good magician or ventriloquist -- both versions of his act are kind of equally cringeworthy in different ways. And I would have liked to have seen the process whereby Fats was introduced to the act, and how that persona was formed; the movie itself seems undecided on the precise separation between the two, and to what extent Corky is dependent on Fats, and it feels like a missed opportunity.