The Gift (B) Movie Review
The Gift stars Jason Bateman as Simon and Rebecca Hall as his wife Robyn who move back to Simon's old city in California. Simon runs into an old classmate named Gordo, played by Joel Edgerton, who Simon remembers as being a little odd. But when Gordo continues to leave gifts and gifts on their doorstep and intruding more and more on their lives, the couple don't really know what to do.
Joel Edgerton, whom you may know from Warrior or The Great Gatsby or Zero Dark Thirty, writes, directs, and acts in this film. He's a very impressive talent, as this film is written quite well, directed well, and his performance is very believable.
This is Edgerton's directorial debut and a very good one at that. He has a knack for building suspense, as there are some scenes in the film that shook everyone in the theater. The scenes I'm talking about are those slow-building scares that take their time before attacking you. Edgerton also does a great job of building a sense of paranoia in the audience. There are many times when you're questing whether Gordo is in their house or not, as Rebecca Hall's character is often doing.
Another definite strong point of the film is the performances. Jason Bateman stretches as a dramatic actor here. Everything that we usually see him in has some comedic element but in The Gift, he plays it very subdued. Rebecca Hall is great as well. She's very believable as she spirals into some minor paranoia while uncovering all the secrets about why Gordo is so obsessed with them.
The Gift's screenplay is one of the better screenplays of this genre in recent years. It doesn't break genre conventions but it packs some delightfully sinister twists that keep you guessing. The characters all feel very three-dimensional, each one of them damaged in some way or another.
The Gift could've benefited from a little cutting. The first forty-five minutes can get a little slow but it's character development and the building of relationships between Simon and Robyn and their neighbors. All of the expository stuff does go on a bit long, though.
But overall, The Gift is a slick summer thriller that stands out among other films of the same genre. It's not groundbreaking but it's good fun. Can you give a film points for being much better than anyone that it was going to be?
FINAL GRADE: B
MPAA RATING: R for language
Joel Edgerton, whom you may know from Warrior or The Great Gatsby or Zero Dark Thirty, writes, directs, and acts in this film. He's a very impressive talent, as this film is written quite well, directed well, and his performance is very believable.
This is Edgerton's directorial debut and a very good one at that. He has a knack for building suspense, as there are some scenes in the film that shook everyone in the theater. The scenes I'm talking about are those slow-building scares that take their time before attacking you. Edgerton also does a great job of building a sense of paranoia in the audience. There are many times when you're questing whether Gordo is in their house or not, as Rebecca Hall's character is often doing.
Another definite strong point of the film is the performances. Jason Bateman stretches as a dramatic actor here. Everything that we usually see him in has some comedic element but in The Gift, he plays it very subdued. Rebecca Hall is great as well. She's very believable as she spirals into some minor paranoia while uncovering all the secrets about why Gordo is so obsessed with them.
The Gift's screenplay is one of the better screenplays of this genre in recent years. It doesn't break genre conventions but it packs some delightfully sinister twists that keep you guessing. The characters all feel very three-dimensional, each one of them damaged in some way or another.
The Gift could've benefited from a little cutting. The first forty-five minutes can get a little slow but it's character development and the building of relationships between Simon and Robyn and their neighbors. All of the expository stuff does go on a bit long, though.
But overall, The Gift is a slick summer thriller that stands out among other films of the same genre. It's not groundbreaking but it's good fun. Can you give a film points for being much better than anyone that it was going to be?
FINAL GRADE: B
MPAA RATING: R for language