Review of The Gift (2015) by Christopher E — 16 Nov 2015

"It's all in the eyes, you see. You see what happens when you poison other people's mind with ideas? " -Gordo.

I had been long awaiting the release of this movie, but as the trailers rolled out, I stepped back and thought to myself, this movie probably isn't going to be great. Although I was excited for it, I'll admit I had little faith in it. Then the movie was released into the theaters, and the ratings were excellent. I still thought that I should wait until the DVD release in order to view the film. Then, the DVD was released this Tuesday (11/3/15), and I rented the movie as soon as I could. I can say, with confidence, this was worth the wait.

"The Gift" stars Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, and Joel Edgerton, who all did amazing jobs in this movie. It felt like this movie wasn't specifically about one of these characters, but it dove deep into these characters and taught us a huge message in life. This movie, subsequently, is a slow paced drama, with not a lot of things happening on screen. It's a dark, psychological thriller with many twists and turns, but this movie was definitely carried by the acting. All of the characters had their own personal histories, and I could never exactly predict the path of which the story was headed on.

If not for the acting, this movie probably would've fallen short from expectations. Jason Bateman puts on an emotional and strong performance, as he plays a character with a secret, hidden past. Jason Bateman has plenty of memorable scenes from this film, and it was difficult to figure out what was haunting his past. He was the second most interesting character, along with being the second best actor here. Joel Edgerton was a stand out here, and it's also amazing that this was his directorial debut for a feature film. He wrote the script and starred in it, and put on an amazing performance. You could tell that Gordo was kind of shady and awkward, and it was awesome to see the psychological effect that he had on Simon and Robyn. Rebecca Hall even put on a great performance, and you should see this movie based on the acting performances alone.

The Gift was smartly directed and cleverly written. It was directed by a man who put a lot of effort into this project and obviously cared about making a quality movie (credit to Joel Edgerton). A lot of creativity and detail was put into this movie and it definitely shined here. Although it was a slow paced drama, it kept my attention throughout the entire movie, and it was not short of entertainment. Be it a mystery, I actually thought I would get pretty bored of this movie. To my surprise, I wasn't, and that is an accomplishment on its own.

The plot was a unique, psychological thriller that gave us a fresh, well thought out script that we don't get too often. I also enjoyed the score of this movie, and it honestly felt like this movie didn't do much wrong. The first act was slow, but intriguing, and the final act was intense and mentally draining.

This movie also has multiple, really strong messages that they were able to get across to us, the viewers. It shows us that words can really affect people, and that things you say can really a haunt a person for the rest of their life. *Semi-Spoiler, but Simon's character was a real bully throughout his entire life, and they established that through a few discrete scenes. He really had a large effect on certain people and it shows that he still hasn't changed.* This movie focuses on the fact that things you do in the past can come back to haunt you at any moment, and your interactions with people can make or break their lives. I thought that this movie really hooks you and hits you right down to the bone. It was effective, devastating, and real.

In all, I had an awesome time with this movie. It's a slow paced drama that dives into a deep character study, but also manages to tell us about the horrors that come with our words. This movie can be really personal for some people, and it's definitely worth watching. It was accompanied by fantastic performances, a great score, a clever script, an entertaining plot, and is a great one time watch. I don't know how good this movie would be for a second time watch, but in the end, I still give this movie a very strong 4.0 stars.