Inadvands Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Prismark10 Apt Pupil is an adaptation of a Stephen King short story. The film is set in the mid 1980s when a smart and cocky teenager, Todd Bowden interested in World War 2 suspects a neighbour of being a fugitive Nazi.Both enter a game of oneupmanship as at first, the fugitive Nazi, Dussander (Ian McKellen) is on the back foot but the elderly man is wily and cunning and wrests control.Bowden instead of turning the fugitive into the authorities wants to hear stories of the war and concentration camps, even gets Dussander to don a Nazi uniform and the relationship brings out demons on both the characters where a strange friendship and alliance ensues. Dussander even at one point pretends to be Bawden's grandfather in order to improve his school grades.However events with a homeless man and a spell in hospital when Dussander becomes ill threatens to bring both their worlds crashing down.The film is intriguing and interesting with a sly performance by McKellen who makes his character sympathetic at first, ashamed of his past. There is an interesting cameo by Michael Byrne as a concentration camp survivor (an actor best known for playing a Nazi in an Indiana Jones film.)The film then starts to lose its way a little, becoming a little predictable, losing some tension along the way. I understand the film departs from King's novella in its conclusion and although not wholly successful the film is still worth investing your time.

Sean Lamberger Ian McKellan is a Nazi war criminal hiding long-term in suburban America. Four decades after the war, a bright high school student with a fascination about WWII marks him on a bus ride and the two embark on a lengthy game of one-upsmanship. Oddly, the kid seems the more villainous of the two, though McKellan is himself far from heroic. I can't shake the sense that the concept was more daring than the film in this case. Featuring a Nazi in a decidedly grey light is a different take, for sure, but I felt like the filmmakers were always too afraid to go anywhere truly risqué with that material, and the core relationship between the two leads is toothless and pantomimed. Maybe that can be primarily chalked up to acting - Brad Renfro, who plays the kid, is positively grating in the role - but even removing that from the equation doesn't completely settle my stomach. It's a film that dances and loiters, but rarely has much to say of genuine power or meaning; wannabe edgy, using the taboo of an old war uniform to mask a serious lack of substance. Even the big reveal at the end, when everything comes apart at the seams, is hollow, telegraphed and half an hour behind schedule.

LeonLouisRicci Totally Believable in its Unbelievability this is a Well Made, Acted, and Fittingly Disturbing Creep-Film from Writer Stephen King and the Sophomore Movie from Director Bryan Singer. There is Definitely Talent at Work here and No Play.There is not an Ounce of Joy or Humor in this Relentlessly Downbeat Study of Young Evil meeting up with Old Evil and Discovering a Kindred Dark-Half. It is not an Easy Movie to Like and it is not an Easy Movie to Dismiss, because it Never Resorts to Horror Story Clichés or Psycho-Drama Sameness. These are Demonic Personifications. There is one, a Death Camp Nazi that got Away and is Hiding as an American Citizen ("I vote, I pay taxes), and Another, a High-School Whiz Kid about to Graduate the Top of His Class at age 16, who is an Evolving Psychopath, and Hiding in His Clean Cut Suburban Home as a Clean Cut Athlete (He was such a nice Boy, no one had any idea, you can just hear the sound bytes in the future).There are other Things going on, like Impotence, Homosexuality, Murder, and Pedophilia just in case You were not having a Good Time. But that's the Point, this isn't a Good Time. It's the Holocaust of the Past and Spree or Serial Killer of the Future Passing Each Other like Satanic Ships in the Night. Out with the Old and In with the New.

freemantle_uk Between the making of The Usual Suspects and X-Men Bryan Singer made a small psychological thriller based on the Stephen King novella Apt Pupil. This was a story with a interesting premise but an uneven execution.In California town in 1984 Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) is a straight A-Level student and at the age of 16 he is already a High School student. When studying the Holocaust he discovers one of his neighbours, Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen) is actually a SS death camp commander and a wanted war criminal. Instead of telling the police Todd blackmails Denker to tell him stories about the Holocaust. Both character slowly end up playing mind games and powerplays with each other and awakening their darks demons within them.The basic idea had a lot of a potential and there were many different directions it could have gone. It could have been the boy finds out about the war criminal and the turns into an examination of the nature of guilt and evil, explore who is really the evil one in the relationship, a look a modern Nazism. The other way it could have gone is the boy could found the secret and does not know where to turn or finds its out the secret after befriending the man.The direction Apt Pupil starred off well enough as it better of wits between Todd and Denker but it slowly turns into more of a horror movie as both characters start to display the behaviour of emerging serial killers. It felt like this was a film wanting to be a thriller and horror more the being a more in depth study which it should have been and what Singer is more than capable of. It was the screenplay that lets the film down with forced moments (i.e. how Denker was discovered by the authorities) to some unrealistic character development.Renfro was a very stiff actor in the lead role and was a truly unlikeable character to lead the film. There was no real charm to him nor the charisma that a character like that needed to make you to make you care about what happened to him. But we were luckily were compensated with an excellent and dark performance from McKellen, playing a character who wants a quiet life and forced to relive his memories and by doing this his old dark and sadistic side.Singer is of course a talented director and he does bring some moments of visual flair involving dreams. There are some creepy looking scenes and the one where Todd was in the shower, the camera pans and changes filter was very well. The pacing is right throughout, Singer and his editor new when to speed up or slow down when needed and the scenes between Todd and Denker were filled with tension. A knife could have cut it as the two men tried to best the other one.There are themes about obsession, violence and the dark nature of humanity. A particular idea that was well done was how people can dream and be interest of violence and the darker elements of life but very different when actually confronted with it.Apt Pupil is the weakest film from Singer's filmography I have seen but it still a well made and compelling film. What lets it down is the weak script that was provided and it was really just a small film for Singer to keep himself busy before he got the X-Men gig (which I am thankful for).