The Oxford Murders

                                                 Rating: 8/10

If you had a brain the size of a goldfish's times a little more like most of us do, yes this is an obvious exaggeration, then you would find this movie a bit of a bore. Between the discussions about philosophy, physics and math, I was almost convinced that I was watching this for a class and not for fun in the beginning. By the twenty-eighth minute mark, fun left the equation and I was sure I had accidentally walked into a class....still trying to figure out what class it is.

The Oxford Murders, a movie staring Elijah Woods, John Hurt, Leonor Watling and others is a movie about a professor and a student, who worked with Scotland Yard to solve a series of murders. They did this by trying to decipher a series of codes or symbols with mathematical equations. 

If you manage to get past the first five minutes of the film, I do applaud you. But after you have gotten up to thirty minutes into the movie, I don't know how, you would feel it is now your solemn duty to complete it. Then you pay extra attention to the movie and discover the brilliance in it. You feel it, can almost see it, then it eludes you. And just when you want to write the movie off as a total waste of time, it creeps back up on you at the final scene, and squeezes out that applause from you in the end. A similar brilliance to the Black Swan's, but this time a bit more coy and evasive. 

Elijah Woods stars as Martin, a young graduate student who is almost overly obsessed with a world renowned Professor Aurthur Seldom, John Hurt, whose brilliance is doubted by me at several points, but proven true by the rap. In order not to give any spoilers, I would say this:

I think the one thing that put the movie together was a statement Seldom made twice in the movie: The butterfly that flutters its wings and causes a hurricane at the other side of the world. 

Remembering this would give any the understanding, or the key, they need to unlock the secrets of this film. I personally found Watling character in the movie, Lorna, like a breath of fresh air each time she appeared. Though her character and Wood's were romantically involved in the movie, her scenes seemed totally out of place for the most part and a bit chaotic with the bulk of the script. Yet this did not come off negatively, but felt more like taking a breath of fresh air once in a while or coming up for a breather. Like commercials during a soap opera.  

Like all things not perfect, this movie was no different. For instance, there was a certain young man who shared a study with Martin, whose name I can't be bothered to recall, whose character still remains a mystery to me. I would guess it might have had something to do with him looking like a suspect for the murders, but this was never truly explained as he was suddenly missing from the movie. I could not decide if he was close to having a psychotic break or just a weirdo. I guess I would never know. 

Then there was the romance.

I believe I can safely say that Woods has some difficulty in portraying fake sex. That being said, the sexual or bedroom scenes in the movie left much to be desired. For some reason though, I also got the vibe that I was watching one of my younger siblings in the act. And believe me, that did not feel too good. 

All the same, I would recommend this movie if you have time and patience and don't mind thinking and mind reading because The Oxford Murders gives you all those are more. I would advise though that if you get to the thirty minute mark of the film, then do watch it to the end, despite the few parts that make your senses plead for you to stop. Because in the end, the last ten minutes of the movie, I managed to change the ratings of the movie from a 4, to a 6, then a 7, back to a 5 and finally settle for the 8 it is.