The Portable Door

2023

Action / Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy / Mystery

63
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 80% · 15 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 62% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 12135 12.1K

aftercreditsstinger transporter villain london underground ghost goblin

Director

Jeffrey Walker Photo
Jeffrey Walker

Top cast

Christoph Waltz Photo
Christoph Waltz as Humphrey Wells
Sam Neill Photo
Sam Neill as Dennis Tanner
Hazel Phillips Photo
Hazel Phillips as Woman
Miranda Otto Photo
Miranda Otto as Countess Judy
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEB.x265
1.04 GB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 2
2.14 GB
1920*800
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 55 min
Seeds 13
1.04 GB
1280*536
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 12
2.14 GB
1920*804
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 21
5.17 GB
3840*1604
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 10

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by cliverfoskett 6 / 10

A movie of 2 Halves!

This is a somewhat contradictory movie.Unusually, I chose to watch it on impulse, out of the blue, with no prior knowledge of what it was about, other than it had an intriguing title and a good cast.From the first few minutes and on to about 45 minutes, the script, apparent plot, and acting successfully draw you in.Everything is set up for The Portable Door to be some intriguing, mind binding, psychological, thought provoking film for adults.You are being taken from the seemingly innocuous streets of London to witness what goes on behind the doors of a mysterious company run by people, Waltz and Neil, whose stated intent is the secret control of the masses, and to sell that ability to the highest bidders.Burton's confusion but initial happiness in getting a strange job in this mysterious company is well portrayed, as is his discovery of his hitherto unknown 'other world' abilities.It feels like a very dark, sci-fi, adult Alice in Wonderland equivalent, with The Portable Door being the entrance to anywhere possible, as per the rabbit hole.Then, just as you sense this film can really take off into deep and intriguing mind games, something happens.To me it suddenly changes direction, backs away from being grown up, and the second half goes completely the opposite, dumping all the careful build-up, the mystery, the intrigue, and the subtlety of leaving you wondering where is this going!And for me that is why it seems the whole first half, of potentially a great attention grabbing movie, appears to be dumped in the bin.It's as if halfway through making it, the director was told that the studio had now given permission for a good CGI budget to be available.So now they had to spend it.And that is why, the film suddenly changes from an interesting subtle mind drama to an all out, in your face, no mystery, flashes, bangs, wallops, villain chasing goodie with loads of odd other creatures hanging around kids fantasy movie.So the last half hour or so is what you expect to see anywhere else, and therefore the end result is pretty obvious from way out, rather than being a last minute cliff-hangar.I enjoyed the first half, but disappointed with the second half.So much potential for a really intriguing film, and then it all reverts to a flash, bang, wallop, CGI action film, which chucks all the great acting of Waltz and Neill early on, out of the window.IMPORTANT!!!Right at the end of the last credits featuring all the CGI creators etc.., there is a clip of a final scene showing Burton, as the character Carpenter.What happens in that scene is strangely a precise summary of what I have written above - so much potential, but at the end not much achieved.So do watch right to the end.It's a fitting summary added by the Director - very telling!
Reviewed by Eruaran 6 / 10

Enjoyable but needs a new sound mix

I haven't read the book so I can't judge this movie on that basis. It's a nice looking film with nice photography, there's no problem with editing or pacing. Its what you'd expect from this type of film. The cast was suitably solid but for me the highlight was Sam Neill: His was a stand-out performance, an absolute delight. He just stole every scene he was in and was loads of fun. However, the movie would have been better if not for serious problems with the sound mix. The music is so overwhelmingly loud it drowns out the dialogue to the point where you're struggling to discern what is being said over the sheer loudness of the music. You might as well turn subtitles on. How does such a serious blunder occur? It seriously detracts from what otherwise might have been a more enjoyable movie.
Reviewed by

Read more IMDb reviews

16 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment