Review of Arlington Road (1999) by Grant S — 05 Mar 2016

Mostly mediocre but saved by the ending.

Michael Faraday (played by Jeff Bridges) is a Professor, specialising in modern terrorism and terrorist acts on US soil in particular. His wife was an FBI agent but was killed in a bungled operation. A new family moves into the neighbourhood and, to Michael, certain things about the husband of the family don't gel. So he does some investigating...

For much of this movie, this was a very conventional, run-of-the-mill thriller. Even calling it a "thriller" flatters it, as it had no twists or intrigues at all - everything was out in plain sight. Then it got even worse, degenerating into mindless chase scenes.

However, it redeems itself, to an extent, with a great twist at the end. But for that this would have been a total write-off.