A lone stranger arrives at a quaint homestead, he just needs a place to
stay and is willing to help out for room and board, but when threats to
the family arise this lone stranger is revealed to be an avenging angel
of badassery. If you’ve seen the classic western
Shane, or let’s
face it any one of countless other western, this is a very familiar
trope, but what if that lone stranger turned out to be a murdering
psychotic sociopath who is just as likely to bite the hand that feeds it
as its enemies? This is the premise behind director
Adam Wingard’s excellent 2014 horror/thriller.
Some spoilers below.
The
Peterson family are going through some tough times as their son Caleb
has joined the ranks of the fallen in the war over in Afghanistan. Laura
Peterson (
Sheila Kelley)
is almost paralyzed by grief over the death of her son, and she is not
getting much support from her alcoholic husband Spencer (
Leland Orser). Their two kids Luke (
Brendan Meyer) and Anna (
Maika Monroe)
both have problems of their own to deal with; Anna has a drug dealing
boyfriend and Luke is mercilessly bullied at school. Enter David Collins
(
Dan Stevens),
a recently released soldier who arrives at the Peterson home claiming
to have been friends with Caleb, and who has arrived to fulfill the last
wishes of his dead friend by delivering personal messages to the
family.
Who would doubt that face? He looks like Captain America.
David
is the epitome of charm and politeness; he quickly works his magic on
the whole family and is invited to stay for a few days, but almost
immediately you’re going to start noticing some red flags as the story
enfolds. You see David is very good with the ultra-violence. At first
this is cause for the audience to almost burst out giggling with glee as
David brings the beat down on the group of school bullies that had been
harassing Luke, or when he slams an asshole ex-boyfriend’s head into
the hall at the speed of a striking cobra. It’d be kind of like finding
out your new best friend was Jason Bourne.
Who has a certain set of skills.
What
puts us on edge is that the incredible speed at which David takes down
his opponents is only matched by the cold brutality of the attacks.
Sure, those football jocks had it coming for picking on poor Luke, but
then when strange deaths start piling up Anna starts to wonder, “
Just who is David?” A picture on the Peterson mantelpiece clearly shows that David
was
in Caleb’s unit, but when Anna calls the military to get some
information on him she is told he is dead. Sadly Anna is the lone voice
of reason as her parents and Luke are completely won over by David.
And really, who could argue with abs like that?
When the military, led by Major Caver (
Lance Reddick),
finally show up looking for David we are completely caught on the fence
as to which side we should be on. We the audience both route for and
are appalled by his actions in almost equal measure because we are
hardwired to respect and enjoy seeing someone good at their job, when
that job is kicking ass so much the better, but when David crosses the
line he
really crosses the line. This is a movie that has you
laughing at the absurdity of the violence one minute then gasping at the
horror of it the next.
"Do you think Nick Fury could use a stand-in?"
This
is an incredibly fun horror/thriller that almost defies categorization,
which we can chock up to the excellent genre busting script by
Simon Barrett,
Adam Wingard's sharp direction, and the amazing performance by Dan
Stevens. Really the entire cast does fantastic work here. This film has
the covert military organization and badass killing machine aspects of
the
Bourne Identity, David’s emotional detachment during his fights is very reminiscent of
The Terminator,
and the last act is straight out of a Slasher Film. So basically I’m
saying this film has it all. If you don’t find it immensely fun and
entertaining then you are probably missing the point. This is a must see
movie.
Note: Their high school has the most amazing Halloween dance set up ever!
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