Review of The Gift (2015) by Dcedmonds — 14 Aug 2015

"The Gift" 10 Scale Rating: 7.0 (Good) ...

The Good: For a movie like this to work, it must succeed in building up the suspense and keep you guessing as to how it will ultimately end. "The Gift" excels at that and keeps you engaged throughout the entire film. Not once does it slow down or go off track, and you easily become invested in the characters and plot. The acting is top notch. Rebecca Hall has received kudos for her performance and deservedly so,but she wasn't the best of the bunch. Jason Bateman, who typically seems to play similar characters, was great and a pleasant surprise. He was able to step out of his comfort zone somewhat and showed a lot more depth than I expected. What makes the film really work though, was Joel Edgerton, who also wrote and directed. His Gordo ("The Weirdo") is a very sympathetic character, despite his moments of menace. While some aspects of the second half of the film were not perfect, the ending was satisfying enough.

The Bad: When you find out what actually happened in the past, it's sort of a letdown. It's not that what happens wasn't terrible, but the way it was presented you just sorta say "Oh" and move on. After all the buildup and drama, it didn't have the impact that it should have. As I said previously, Jason Bateman was great, but his character was part of what brings the film down. Right away, they make it obvious that he's an insufferable jerk who at best was a horrible bully in high school and at worst, someone capable of something truly sinister. I had a hard time feeling sorry for him and couldn't help but hope that Gordo gets revenge on him. The lack of "did he or didn't he?" was disappointing as you're made well aware that he most-likely did SOMETHING bad.