The Gift ? 3 out of 5
If you would have told me five years ago that Michael Bluth and a young Owen Lars would be in a thriller together, I would have said, "How did you get into my house?" I would then immediately apologize because that is just impolite and then I would ask you if you would like a Ginger Ale and some Nutter Butters. Then, after we've had our snacks, I'd politely ask you again how you were able to enter my house and, after you've give me an adequate explanation, I would answer your first question and say that I don't think I could see Jason Bateman--a known funnyman--and Joel Edgerton--a legitimate acting god with amazing amounts of talent--coming together to make a suspenseful feature. However, I would have ultimately been wrong about that but hope my hospitality would have made up for any rudeness you would have felt when I didn't believe you about the film.
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| Another talent you can add to Edgerton's already overflowing talent list: Looking creepy as fuck in this film. |
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| Holy Shit! There's a gift in The Gift! |
Simon Callum (Jason Bateman) and his wife Robyn (Rebecca
Hall) are out to start a new life and move from Chicago to the suburbs of Los
Angeles. Simon has a new job and the two
are hoping to start a family; however, one day, they run into a man named
Gordon ?Gordo? Moseley (Joel Edgerton).
Gordo is a man from Simon?s past and he immediately tries to insert
himself into their lives and strike a new friendship with the couple. Gordo is a little on the strange side and
despite the fact that Robyn is trying to give him the benefit of the doubt,
Simon wants Gordo gone. When he attempts
to remove the man from their lives, things start to get scary and Robyn soon
learns that something traumatic happened to them when they were younger and
that her husband might not be the man she thinks he is?
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| Pfff, that's the worst shower door steam art I've ever seen. |
For Joel Edgerton?s feature film directorial debut (he
directed a few shorts before?also, he wrote the film. He was a busy bee on this film.), The Gift is
fairly well put together. Edgerton
really knows how to set up some creepy scenes, build an intriguing and
captivating story and his acting ability really helped make his character of
Gordo unsettling but a bit sympathetic as well.
Overall, the film is well crafted and is a decent thriller but doesn?t
end up being a prime example of the genre.
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| They play a very well-off couple. That's because there's always money in the banana stand. |
I already stated that Edgerton is doing a great job both
behind the camera and in front of it but he?s matched by some excellent
performances from Rebecca Hall and Jason Bateman. Hall I?ve seen do excellently in other films
but seeing Bateman do something like The Gift was completely new
territory. I?m so used to seeing him be
the straight man in comedies that I was filled with a mixture of curiosity and
apprehension to see him do something so drastically different. However, he was absolutely incredible in this
role and it really just showed that this man has way more talent that I ever
truly realized.
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| Wendell Pierce is in the film, playing his contractually obligated role of playing a detective. |
The story to The Gift is simple and a prime breeding ground
for some unnerving sequences.
Occasionally, the film completely succeeds with this formula and, simultaneously, did a
tremendous job of making me foam at the mouth to know what exactly Simon did to
Gordo to incur the man?s wrath. However,
the film is dragged down by its plot very slowly establishing itself and the
main points of the story feeling like they are actively trying to stretch
itself out. Sometimes, when major plot
points come into play, the reveal will be held back in order to create
suspense. Often this works to create
further intrigue and it melted me into the story even more but sometimes
Edgerton stretches out the reveal to painful levels and it begins to take away
from the tension and suspense and starts to feel more like he?s just trying to
make the story and film feel longer. The
Gift already suffers from having a story that feels like it is taking a long
time to establish itself and, even worse, the suspense and thrills take even
longer to really start to show up so having big reveals that will create more
mystery or answer some of the film?s questions kinda/sorta makes the film boring
at times.
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| "This note just says, 'Do You Like Me? Check Yes or No.' Why would Gordo leave that?" |
Visually, the film looks amazing and rich, the music used
really helps craft a tone of potential terror around every corner, the
performances might be the best part about it and the characters are deep and
excellently written; however, the slow building story does hurt the film
badly. Ultimately, this slow build does
culminate in a terrific ending and the film does do a great job of making you
wonder who the true antagonist is but when you combine the slow moving plot and
the fact that even though the potential for creepy sequences, the scary and
unsettling parts are a bit few and far between.
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| "I've made a huge mistake." |
I?m not saying The Gift is a bad film?not at all. The story is written well, the characters are
interesting, the performances are incredible and the visuals are fantastic but the
film moves way too slowly and that ends up hurting a lot of the intrigue the
film features and the potential tension many scenes have. So, yes, I didn?t think the film was bad. I just thought the film was decent and
serviceable. Granted, the film ended up
being different than what the trailer sold it to me as?and that?s a good
thing?but the product felt sorta like it wasn?t making use of all its potential
and it ended up just being a good, average film. Finally, the film also makes me want to make sure I never, EVER, am mean to anyone ever again and even call people from my past and apologize for even the smallest of slights.
