YMMV / You Were Never Really Here

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Inverted. In the novella, Joe is described as six foot two and 190 pounds, with no fat. Joaquin Phoenix is quite a bit shorter and, while he clearly bulked up for the role, is rather less than ripped.
• Adaptation Displacement: The movie itself was relatively under the radar in 2018 outside of critics and cinephile lists, but hardly anyone would've guessed it's based on a 2013 novella by Jonathan Ames.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Senator Votto kill himself out of guilt for selling his own daughter to the trafficking ring, or was he afraid of what Joe would do to do him if he ever found out?
• Awesome Music:
  • "Angel Baby" by Rosie & The Originals, a lovely and peaceful song used for scenes that are the complete opposite in terms of tone.
  • Jonny Greenwood's original score for the film too, which can be either anxiety-inducing or pure Sweet Dreams Fuel depending on the scene.
• Awesome Moments:
  • Joe's storming of the child brothel, shown mostly through silent security camera footage, is brutally efficient and successful. Not only does he take out the entire security detail without any trouble, he also kills two of the patrons there and rescues Nina with no major complications.
  • When Joe returns home to find his mother murdered, he takes out her killers with one shot each from his pistol. The subsequent scene of Joe laying catatonic on the floor and bonding with the dying hitman will likely drain the scene of any catharsis however.
  • Combined with Tear Jerker when Joe tries to commit suicide by drowning himself in the lake, only for a vision of Nina to remind him that he still has something to live for. The image of him defiantly swimming up into the sunlight is easily the most beautiful part of the whole film.
  • Once again, Joe taking out Governor Williams' entire security detail with no issue, only to find that Nina has already killed the sick bastard and freed herself.
• Complete Monster:
  • Original 2013 novella and 2018 expanded version: "The Boss" Novelli is an elderly crime lord who is approached by politician Votto for funding in his political career. Novelli, a vile pedophile and sex trafficker, agrees to help Votto so long as he gets to pimp out Votto's daughter Lisa. Doing this simply out of spite for Votto's dad being a rival to Novelli, Novelli convinces Votto to take the deal before raping Lisa and turning her into a prostitute for his organization. Novelli goes on to ensure that no one discovers the truth, killing Votto's wife when she gets suspicious of Lisa's whereabouts and sending his goons to eliminate several loose ends tied to Votto and the hired gun Joe.
  • Film: Governor Williams is an apparently beloved politician, but in truth is a despicable pedophile and trafficker of children who attends events where kids are "traded" to fellow depraved individuals like himself. His "favorite" being young Nina, Williams forced her father Senator Albert Votto to hand her over to Williams in exchange for a boost to Votto's career. When Joe saves Nina from him, Williams dispatches his goons to torture and kill their way through several innocents—including a teenage boy—to retrieve her for Williams, culminating in Joe's mother being killed on Williams's order, Williams hoping to take out everyone connected to Joe and Votto so he can keep Nina for himself.
• Critical Dissonance: As one would expect from a gritty arthouse flick, the critics seemed to enjoy it more than the audience, with an 88% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes compared to a 65% audience score. This can be largely pinned on the trailers making it appear to be an action film in the same vein as Taken when it's really a slow burning examination of psychological trauma.
• Ending Fatigue: It takes a really long time for Joe to rescue Nina again, even for a 90-minute runtime.
• Heartwarming Moments: The ending, surprisingly enough. Joe fantasizes about killing himself, but Nina snaps him out of it, telling him that it's a beautiful day outside. Joe agrees, and they leave together for an uncertain future.
• He Really Can Act: It's no surprise that Joaquin Phoenix is a fantastic actor, but this movie let him display a whole new level of nuance and grit without much dialogue.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The antagonists of the film are a child sex-trafficking ring comprised of rich and powerful men who will do literally anything to keep their secret from spilling out. The mere idea of that is bone-chilling, let alone what they actually do to the people Joe loves once they figure out that he's on their trail.
  • Most of the final scene. After Nina gets up and leaves, we see Joe pull out a pistol and graphically blow his brains out right there in the diner. It's not until we see everyone else fail to react to it that we realize it's a fantasy.
• Tear Jerker: Now has its own page.