Review of Right at Your Door (2006) by Nathan P — 31 Mar 2008

This is not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, it is not very deep, it lacks emotion, good acting, and a plausible plot, but oh how ironic this film ends up being. You want irony? You got irony, and little else.

The film takes place in LA after a series of "dirty bombs" have gone off in downtown turning the streets of Americas 2nd largest city into a battlefield overnight. Husband and wife Brad and Lexi wake up one typical sunny day and go about their lives as usual. Lexi dries downtown to work while Brad stays home. Suddenly Brad feels the ground shake, hears a distant boom, and then messages start to come over the radio about a terrorist attack in the downtown area. After a useless attempt to find his wife, Brad seals himself off in his home and tries to make sense of the situation unfolding around him though scattered and confused radio reports.

The film is basically yet another play on our post 9/11 fears. This kind of movie has been done so many times since the towers fell that it's no longer original, depressing, and, more importantly, it's no longer scary. How many times are independent film makers, lacking in budget and talent, going to keep making this same movie over and over and over again? When will it stop? It is good to remember that day, but it isn't necessary to bombard us with these constant speeches and "artsy" films. Right at your Door is just another independent film trying to do its best with a low budget by pulling on our emotional strings and relying far too much on the events of 9/11 for its main themes. Not to say that's a bad thing, obviously films like Cloverfield, which came out earlier this year, managed to do just that in a very convincing way, but there are dozens of poorly made low budget independent films that all try to do basically the same thing. This film is nothing special.

The acting is okay overall, with Mary McCormack giving a superb performance as Lexi, while Rory Cochrane's portrayal of Brad was bland and unconvincing. The real meat of this film comes from what little we see of the devastation of LA. Although we see relatively little- the whole film takes place in their home and rarely moves outside of it- what we are shown of the disaster is stunning in its realism. The poison ashes raining from the sky like snow, a little boy staring at the smoke rising in the distance, its all very haunting and is far and away the best thing this film does. Unfortunately the suspense and dread built up in this film dies away as the film goes on. SPOILER!!!! Why is it, after about three days of being exposed to the poisons, does Lexi not feel any of its effects other then a cough when the news says people are dieing in the streets? END OF SPOILER!!! Why does Brad's car still drive after getting a flat tire? It doesn't make much sense.

This movie has some seriously twisted irony at the end, but it really isn't that hard to see coming, and it's hard to care when it does come because the characters aren't really the kind of people you'd care about. Who cares what happens to these people? Overall it's not really a film worth spending time and money on seeing, but if you HAVE to see it make sure you don't spend more then a couple dollars to do it and keep your hand on the fast forward button.