Review of Orphan (2009) by Simon W — 10 Jun 2011
Given that I almost gave up at the half-way point, this actually turned out to be a pretty decent film. The performances are great, Farmiga in particular, and 12-year-old Fuhrman does a cracking job, if you can ignore the dodgy (and unnecessary) "Russian" accent.
The first half is set up nicely, but then when orphan girl Esther (inevitably) turns psychotic, it all happens too quickly and violently, whereas keeping some ambiguity for a while (or at least attempting to) might have worked better.
However, once Esther starts to more explicitly target her adoptive siblings, some genuine tension is created, and there are quite a few excellent edge-of-the-seat set-pieces. A little of the good work is undone by the laughable twist towards the end, but once these cards are on the table, the film can play itself out with a clearer goal.
Yes, it's trashy rubbish, but I don't mind admitting that it still managed to suck me back in more than once.
This review of Orphan (2009) was written by Simon W on 10 Jun 2011.
Orphan has generally received positive reviews.
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