Nightmare Alley’s second half is one of the year’s most visually arresting and well-crafted projects, a whirlwind of visionary filmmaking with stellar production design and gorgeous score work from Nathan Johnson. Unfortunately, that vision doesn’t fully apply to the first half of writer/director Guillermo Del Toro’s Shape of Water follow-up. In truth, the film is thoroughly well-designed throughout, but its beginnings lack a sense of momentum sorely needed to push the story where it needs to go. It gets there eventually, especially once Cate Blanchett shows up to steal the show, but by then, the pacing has largely soured.