Review of The Good Doctor (2011) by Andrew S — 18 Jan 2013

In The Good Doctor, Orlando Bloom plays a young doctor fresh out of medical school. And let's just say he's got some issues.

The Doctor, Martin Blake, becomes allured by one his patients, high school student Diane, who has a kidney infection. Although her infection is nothing to sneeze at, Dr. Blake assures her everything is under control and quickly sends her home nice and healthy. Still enamoured by her however, he devises a plan to return her to his care.

The plot is certainly intriguing, but it takes more than just plot to make a thriller work. Bloom has the responsibility to flesh out an interesting character who despite making bad decisions, can connect with the viewer. Unfortunately, he fails to bring much to the character.

It also doesn't help that the character has little development to begin with. He hints at a desire for lots of respect, which is interesting, but that Idea is never established. I think this story would work better in a TV series than a 90 minute movie. With a back-story developed, Dr. Blake's reasoning would be clearer, and it would make for a more compelling character. In this film, he just seems like a bonehead doing stupid thing after stupid thing.

Even despite a weak lead performance, early on it has it's share of thrilling moments. But eventually, with nowhere to go, it succumbs to the clichéd route, which kills any chance it had of being interesting.