ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

adonis98-743-186503 After her son goes missing, a broken mother returns months later to the island of El Hierro to identify a body. She finds out her son is not the only one missing. The problem with Hierro is that it can't find what it wants to be it's half drama and the other half is a thriller (kinda) but it's bland and although the leading actress does a good job the whole rest of this film is her having a bath in the shower or in the sea and also it suffered from way too many dream sequences that completely ruined the movie for me i'm sure that there is a much better film inside all this mess but i can't tell cause the bad out smarted the good and i'm going to give Hierro an 4.8/10

KobusAdAstra 'Hierro' is a suspenseful film about a woman whose young son disappears while on a ferry underway to an island off the coast of Spain. She starts a desperate search on the rather desolate island with bare rock and sparse vegetation, with a few reclusive and unhelpful people staying in caravans. This story cleverly links with the drama of another child's disappearance after a car crash, a few years earlier.This is a well-crafted film with excellent acting, and cinematography. At times it seems a bit too sentimental, but given the subject matter, it is hard not to get emotionally involved. A film worth watching. 7/10.

bobhartshorn Gabe Ibanez's stylish directorial debut is a stunning mystery-chiller concerning every parent's worst nightmare.6 months after the disappearance of her son aboard a ferry to the island of El Hierro, young mother Maria (the excellent Elena Anaya) is summoned back to the volcanic environment after the body of a child is recovered from a watery grave...To reveal any more of the plot would be performing a shameful disservice as this nifty genre piece has many twists and visual delights lying in wait for unsuspecting viewers. Cinematographer Alejandro Martinez's impressive widescreen compositions and washed out colours perfectly capture the atmosphere and feel of the protagonist's surroundings, turning the island into a character that appears to be manipulating the distraught Maria's emotions and sense of reality. A lengthy sequence on a deserted sun-drenched beach is executed to eerie, haunting effect creating a disturbing dream-into-nightmare set-piece.Ibanez's measured pace and sure direction (with knowing nods to Lynch and Argento) bring proceedings swiftly and surely to a moving conclusion. I feel the negative response from the Brit film-reviewing contingent re the 'signposted' twist-ending are somewhat missing the point, as the movie works perfectly well on it's own as a study of a traumatised individual going into meltdown. This isn't the tacky 'Gotcha-with-that-ending-didnt I?!!' M Night Charlatan wannabe that we've been lead to believe. No sir.If I have any criticisms, i'd have to direct them at M de la Riva's Hermanesque score which, whilst being perfectly serviceable in it's own right, is often over-used to the point of obtrusiveness, particularly in scenes where the visuals and superb sound mixing are working perfectly well by themselves. But that's a tiny discrepancy in an otherwise intelligent, first rate thriller. Ibanez is a name to watch.

kosmasp There are quite a few good movies from Spain, covering the horror thriller. This one starts really good and has awesome cinematography and really good actors. Still in the end, it doesn't completely deliver on the premise.One of the main problems being, that it too foreseeable, but still tries to build upon a twist, that you can see coming a long way, before it actually gets revealed in the movie. The hints are there of course and it is pretty nicely done. Maybe if this is your very first thriller, you might be a bit more excited. But all in all, you can watch this, just be patient with the movie and enjoy it's setting and the "view".