Line #12 Film/Resolution


1	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/resolution_film.jpg]]
2	''Resolution'' is a 2012 horror film directed by Creator/JustinBenson and Creator/AaronMoorhead, written by Benson, and starring Peter Cilella, Vinny Curran, and Creator/ZahnMcClarnon. Michael Danube (Cilella) receives a video depicting his friend from childhood, Chris Daniels (Curran), obviously in a bad state of mind, and possibly injured, along with a map. To the protestations of his wife, Michael heads out to find his friend and help him. When he arrives at the location, he finds a run-down house with Chris, who is both armed and high on meth. Michael decides that the only way to save his former friend is a cold turkey intervention. He subdues Chris with a stun gun, handcuffs him to a wall, and sets aside a week to let Chris dry out. Then, things get complicated.
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4	Chris owes a stash of drugs to the pair of Micah and Billy, two people that Michael and Chris had known in school, who are willing to use violence to retrieve the drugs. Chris is illegally squatting in the house, which sits inside of a Native American reservation. Chris is obviously unwilling to give up his drug habit, and doesn't want to be saved. Michael starts finding mysterious forms of media from records to film stock to [=DVDs=] which start out depicting horrific fates of those involved, and start to reflect and depict Michael and Chris. Oh, and Chris didn't send the video.
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6	It soon becomes clear that someone, or something, is constructing its own narrative, and has made Michael and Chris the main characters.
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8	It received a StealthSequel in ''Film/TheEndless'' in 2017.
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11	!!This film depicts the following tropes:
12	* ApocalypticLog: The stories, recordings, and films that Michael find essentially work as this, and possibly the film as a whole.
13	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The only physical symptom of meth withdrawal that Chris seems to experience is tiredness. He should be experiencing other, more uncomfortable symptoms like headaches and muscle spasms. He's also constantly complaining of being hungry when a lack of appetite is another symptom.
14	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Michael and Chris hide while Charles and his men kill Micah and Billy, which was originally intended to be the fate of the former two. Considering that they're murderous junkies, they thoroughly deserved it.]]
15	* BigBad: [[spoiler:The nameless entity manipulating the events for its own amusement.]]
16	* BigBadWannabe: Micah and Billy count, as do Charles and his men. They most certainly pose a threat to Michael and Chris, but they're clearly outmanned by an EldritchAbomination.
17	* CharacterDevelopment: Chris starts the film as a raving lunatic but slowly grows more rational as he gets sober, finally coming to the point where [[spoiler:he agrees to go into rehab]].
18	* CosmicHorrorStory: [[spoiler:The entity creates an inescapable XanatosGambit for its victims, making it completely impossible for them to try and change its plans and ensuring that they would die one way or another. And even if they ''did'' manage to escape, they would just bring it back with them.]]
19	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Michael tells Chris that his rough upbringing explains his descent into addiction, but Chris asserts that if he had great parents, he'd just be an addict with great parents.
20	* DespairEventHorizon: Chris loses whatever will he had to live [[spoiler:when Micah and Billy kill the dog, giving a DespairSpeech to Michael about how futile his attempts to get him clean are. Apparently subverted near the end, though, when he doesn't want to die at anybody's hands.]]
21	* DespairSpeech: Chris tells Michael that [[spoiler:he would rather die on drugs than live a long, sober life because he's miserable]].
22	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Our protagonists manage to escape, leaving a few assholes to die in their place. But then the entity itself shows up, enraged. The last shot of the film is them begging for forgiveness as the entity bears down upon them, their deaths inevitable. According to the StealthSequel ''The Endless'', they’re now trapped in an eternal time loop forced to relive the events of the movie over and over]].
23	* EldritchAbomination: Whatever the creature is, it seems to be able to manipulate reality including presenting real-time and future recordings of the protagonists. [[spoiler:When they finally come fact-to-face with the creature, it looms impossibly high above them before a SmashToBlack.]]
24	* GagDub: The DVD features several alternate versions including one with an obviously tacked-on HappyEnding which makes callbacks to the events of the film while negating any gravitas, a "rejected cut" involving [[DeletedRole a third person at the cabin who contributes nothing to the plot and largely comments on how weird everything is]], and a recut trailer that makes the film look like a love story between the two men.
25	* HopeSpot: It looks like Chris and Michael have avoided getting killed, and Chris is willing to go to therapy. Then [[spoiler:the entity itself appears to doom them]].
26	* KickTheDog: To show that they're serious about getting the drugs back, [[spoiler:Micah and Billy shoot the stray dog that Chris has been taking care of.]]
27	* MistakenForGay: The scam artist who tries to buy the house off of the two assumes that they're a couple.
28	* NailedToTheWagon: Forced on Chris by Michael as an attempt to get him clean. Michael figures that if Chris can go a week without drugs, he'll agree to go into full rehab.
29	* NoodleIncident: Chris did something at Michael's wedding that led to their estrangement, but it's never described. Although, given the troubles that Chris is stated to have had in terms of drugs and alcohol, it's probably fairly mundane.
30	* OneWordTitle
31	* TheOner: Some of Chris and Michael's conversations are shot in long takes, particularly their final conversation while in hiding, which is predominantly shot in one take that is several minutes long.
32	* SmashToBlack: [[spoiler:The protagonists come face to face with the entity. Michael asks "Can we try it another way?" and is answered by an unearthly roar and a cut to black.]]
33	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The scam artist has no reaction to seeing Chris sitting on a mattress handcuffed to the wall, assuming that it's some sort of sex thing.

Context Film / Resolution