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 Director
: Mark Pellington
Starring
: Tim Robbins, Jeff Bridges, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis, Robert
Gossett, Spencer Clark & Mason Gamble
Picture : 2.35:1 Anamorphic, DD
5.1, Single-Side Dual-Layer, Crystal Case
Running
Time : 113 mins
The
story:
How
well do you know your neighbour ?
Michael
Faraday (Jeff Bridges), a lecturer on modern terrorism,
and his 10 year old son, Grant (Spencer Clark) are both
trying to come to terms with the loss two years earlier
of Michaels wife, grants mother. When they befriend a new
family who have just moved in across the road things seem
to pick up and life slowly gets better for them. However
as the families get closer and their lives more entwined,
Michael starts to have misgivings about Oliver and Cheryl
Lang (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack) and begins to investigate
them. Is its paranoia after the death of his wife and his
terrorism teachings ? or is there something more, something
dark about them and who they claim to be.
The
summary:
After relative quiet spells in both their careers Tim Robbins
and Jeff Bridges decided to team up for this film, which
was one of the surprising triumphs of 1998. Led by the premise
that the best terrorist is sometimes the person you least
expect, sometimes its your neighbour, the film delves into
a world of intrigue and politics. Jeff bridges plays along
by numbers in this one and never really nudges greatness
as the paranoid and over the top father trying to avenge
and come to terms with the death of his FBI wife. Tim Robbins
on the other hand plays the deranged and maniacal bomber
with surprising reality, in sharp contrast to the more demure
role he made his own in the wonderful Shawshank Redemption.
The
film offers many good moments, although you cant help but
think that the action should have been turned up a notch
along with more narrative on the relationship that the two
male leads build up. The rest of the supporting cast, including
Joan Cusack do not offer anything special but merely offer
some background to the plot. The one things that really
makes the film is of course the wonderful ending (Don't
worry I wont spoil it for you - Its safe to read on) and
this nicely adds the cherry to an average film to tip it
slightly into above average country. The trend at the moment
seems to be to have a major twist at the end of films and
everyone seems to want a piece of the action. Whilst this
film is not in the same league as Fight Club and Sixth Sense
for its twist it is still very entertaining and will keep
you guessing until the end comes crashing down around you.
One
last thing to mention is the appalling lack of Extra's.
I really don't know how long DVD makers think they can get
away with doing this and quite frankly we shouldn't have
to put up with it. Another reason to buy region 1 me thinks
!
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