Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Resident

For two thirds of its running time this is not a terrible thriller. It's actually pretty well-done with Hilary Swank decent as a heartsick doctor starting a new life in a Brooklyn apartment, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan very creepy as her over-interested landlord. The film is built along a slow accumulation of dread instead of a series of scary moments and it works, but then, in its third act, it becomes what all of these thrillers now become, a drag-out fight where we are expected to believe that plucky Swank can out-physical her psychotic landlord. Truly stupid and utterly cliched.
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1 comment:

  1. YvetteMarch 17, 2011 at 4:22 PM

    I wonder sometimes who is choosing the films for Hillary Swank at this point. I won't be watching this but I'd like to make an additional comment anyway, Peter.

    I don't like horror films or this sort of woman in jeopardy film, by the way. That's the reason for my letting this one go by. That and your review is enough for me.

    But anyway, here's my view about women attempting to 'out physical' men.

    It rarely works unless the woman has the sizable advantage of a large gun. I am speaking as a woman when I say that women are just not as strong as men. This is a non-debatable 'given' at least 90 percent of the time. I believe a woman can out-smart a man, out-think a man, out-con a man and all things being equal, out-shoot a man. But I have trouble believing much else when it comes to man/woman conflict. One of the reasons I rarely read or enjoy books with a woman private detective or agent or whatever who tries to act like a man to catch a killer is this: It is mostly unbelievable.
    It rarely works.

    I've seen it work only a few times in my reading life.

    Just thought I'd get that off my chest mainly because your comment about the Hillary Swank film brought it to mind.

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