Director: Joel Edgerton
Writer: Joel Edgerton (Screenplay)
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Allison Tolman, Tim Griffin, Busy Philipps, Adam Lazarre-White, Beau Knapp
Plot: A young married couple’s lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband’s past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Tension Filled Thriller
Story: The Gift starts with Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) moving back to California for Simon’s new job, they find the perfect house with stunning views of the neighbourhood. While being out and about in the town shopping Gordo (Edgerton) approaches them because he is an old friend of Simon’s from school, trying to get to get a chance to get to know each other again the couple swap numbers and think nothing more of the meeting.
Things start getting strange for Simon & Robyn as Gordo continues to give them gifts but we learn that Simon isn’t really as close to Gordo as Gordo believes. When Simon finally tell Gordo to leave the couple alone things take a turn for the worse when Gordo steals their dog and has been lying about everything he has told them or is there more to the story.
The Gift is a revenge thriller that has that constant feel of tension, we don’t have anything over the top happening though, which isn’t a bad thing because when certain films go over the top we end up feeling slightly left think that couldn’t happen. The scariest part of this film is that it could very well happen and until the final moment nothing that happens comes off remotely unrealistic. This is what drives the story to the levels it reaches and shows just how you need to learn to be careful what you do in your life.
Actor Review
Joel Edgerton: Gordo nicknames Gordo ‘the Weirdo’ who comes back into the life of an old school friend Simon, but he starts giving them gifts and appearing at the house when Simon isn’t around trying to become friends with Robyn. He starts acting strange with all his action but realizes he has come too far he decides to apologize for his action before everything gets out of control again. Joel gives us a great performance where he doesn’t do too much creepy but still ends up coming off creepy.
Jason Bateman: Simon moves along with his wife to California to start a new job, he tries to be nice to Gordo but soon gets tired of him appearing in his life and asks him to leave because he knows they were never really friends in the first place. Jason gives us a good performance playing a complete asshole through the film.
Rebecca Hall: Robyn is the working from home wife of Simon who also suffered a miscarriage before they moved to California, she tries to be friendly with Gordo because she never knew anything about the previous history between Gordo and Simon. Rebecca gives us a good performance of a lady struggling with idea of potentially being watched.
Support Cast: The Gift has a supporting cast that mostly includes the people filling in the stories about what happened and showing us what Simon really is like.
Director Review: Joel Edgerton – Joel gives us a tense thriller that keeps us guessing from start to finish creating great atmosphere throughout.
Mystery: The Gift keeps you guessing to what really happened in the past with Simon and Gordo.
Thriller: The Gift keeps you wondering just what is Gordo’s point in his gifts until we learn the truth we just don’t know how far it will go.
Settings: The Gift has most of the film happening in the family home which shows how easy it is to potentially get stalked there.
Special Effects: The Gift doesn’t really use special effects because everything is mind games really.
Suggestion: The Gift is a film that should be watched this year, it will surprise a lot of people with how simple the idea is. (Watch)
Best Part: The idea is so simple and effective.
Worst Part: If you are expecting scares you will be let down.
Favourite Quote: Gordo ‘You think you’re done with the past, but the past is not done with you. ’
Believability: What happens in this could easily be a story we all could see happening.
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Similar Too: Shutter without the ghosts.
Oscar Chances: No
Box Office: $27 Million
Budget: $5 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
Tagline: Not Every Gift Is Welcome.
Trivia: As he wanted to focus on directing, Edgerton filmed his own scenes as Gordo two weeks into shooting and completed them in seven days.
Overall: Tension is the name of the game and it hits on every roll of the dice
Rating
