I remember seeing trailers for this movie a lot when it first came out, and its probably because of those trailers i had no interest in seeing this movie. So why watch it now? the answer is simple really, Rebecca Hall. she has been kicking ass for years with her roles in THE NIGHT HOUSE, CHRISTINE, and a bizarre little movie called TRANSCENDANCE. She is the best part of every movie i have seen her in, so i was curious to see if this movie is worth all the hype.
also this movie started with a rape warning on the streaming service i use. no joke or bit for that just haven't seen that before
When married couple Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) unexpectedly encounter Gordo (Joel Edgerton), an acquaintance from Simon's past, little do they know that their perfect lives will be thrown into a terrifying tailspin. At first, Simon doesn't recognize Gordo, but after a troubling series of uninvited encounters and mysterious gifts, a horrifying secret emerges. As Robyn learns what really happened between Simon and Gordo, she begins to question how well
she knows her spouse. The project was announced in August 2012, with Joel Edgerton writing the screenplay and Edgerton set to make his directing debut. His inspirations for the screenplay included Alfred Hitchcock, Fatal Attraction and Michael Haneke's 2005 French film Caché, as well as Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy.
i love a movie that doesn't feel acted or scripted at all, and this is definitely one of those movies. Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall both kick ass in this movie, and give the most natural performances i have ever seen in a movie. this isn't a movie with boring meatbag characters getting picked off one by one, this is a movie about an intensely real couple dealing with an intensely unstable man.
the wide shots of empty house and massive stores has you constantly checking every corner of this movie for Gordo, and the craziest part is sometimes you find him. things only get more unsettling when Gordo comes around for dinner, and you get an increasingly unsettling look into his past and ideology. Was he planning something horrible from the start? did the note on the fridge set him off? how much of what he says is the truth? Joel Edgerton gives one hell of a performance as Gordo, and this movie leaves us wondering whether he is an unstable psychopath or just a down on his luck dad. this movie is 2 hours long, and by the hour mark you still don't know what his intentions are. by this point, every tiny sound makes you jump, and you keep wondering what exactly the titular gift in this movie is.
but hey while we are waiting, lets watch Gordo tear this relationship apart! this is really where Rebecca Halls acting gets cranked up to 11, and i love how you can read a thousand different thoughts at once on both Robyn and Simons face. it slowly becomes less and less about Gordo and the focus turns to Simon and all the secret's he has been keep for the whole relationship. Simon gets far scarier than Gordo ever did, and the fact that's even possible is scarier than anything else in this movie.
long story short, this movie kicks ass.
10/10
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