Offering to the Storm – Netflix Review (3/5)

OFFERING TO THE STORM is out on Netflix. The third and final movie in the Baztan trilogy will give you answers to (most of) your questions. The Spanish thriller doesn’t offer many surprises, but it is quite dark and brutal. Read our full Offering to the Storm review here!

OFFERING TO THE STORM is now out on Netflix to end the Baztan trilogy that began in 2017. The first two movies are also out on Netflix and since the events from both are referenced in this, a Baztan marathon might be a good idea. The first movie was The Invisible Guardian (2017) and the second was The Legacy of the Bones (2019).

Recommended reading: You can read our review of The Legacy of the Bones here >

With this third movie on Netflix, you should get most of the answers you’ve been looking for. This is a brutal and dark Spanish thriller (org. title Ofrenda a la tormenta) and it’s a good way to end the trilogy. However, just as with the previous two Baztan movies, I do get quite annoyed while watching it.

Continue reading our full Offering to the Storm review below and check it out on Netflix.

50 shades of murder and sobbing

There is a lot of bloodshed and murder in Offering to the Storm, which is to be expected. After all, this is the third movie in a trilogy that has focused on murder and cults from the very beginning. The Baztan trilogy is fascinating in many ways, but the movies have always managed to also irritate me. Mostly due to being too long and slow with characters making stupid choices.

In this final movie, the most irritating elements are sex scenes and the sobbing. So much sobbing! At all times and for various reasons.

I do actually love the fact that gender roles have been switched in many ways. It’s cool that the lead homicide investigator is a woman and that her husband is at home with their son. And it’s cool that we get to see male nudity as much as the female.

However, when the sobbing scenes suddenly seem to be a huge part of this cool woman’s scenes, then it somehow skewers this cool aspect.

Watch Offering to the Storm on Netflix now!

Obviously, you have to watch this movie if you’ve watched the first two movies in the Baztan trilogy. And actually, this might be my favorite movie of the three. All of them have some great elements along with some damn irritating ones.

However, despite not being familiar with the books these are based on, I had guessed virtually everything. The only real question I’m left with is about the FBI agent, who Amaia has used as a sounding board all through this trilogy. That was somehow left hanging in the wind, but maybe we’ll get a spin-off movie for that storyline.

I did enjoy watching this final movie, but I am definitely also yelling at the screen. For many different reasons, but (once again) mostly when characters act in stupid ways. Also, many of the villains are more interesting when the hero (lead investigator, Amaia) is suddenly sobbing constantly. She’s supposed to be my hero, but to say that she is flawed in this final movie is a huge understatement.

Still, you should definitely check out the entire trilogy if you like crime thrillers with cults and interesting (often female) villains.

Offering to the Storm is out on Netflix from July 24, 2020.

Details

Director: Fernando González Molina
Writers: Luiso Berdejo, Dolores Redondo (novel)
Stars: Leonardo Sbaraglia, Marta Etura, Álvaro Cervantes