Review of The Guest (2014) by Rob S — 25 Jul 2015

A friend of mine had recommended this movie and gave it to me after he and I watched a fight scene which happens fairly early in the movie. Sadly, this scene and the other "action" sequences in the film are the only great thing about The Guest while it maintains a good style throughout its duration with good cinematography.

The story itself is a letdown, at least in my eyes. A young man just out of the military stops in on the Petersons, whose son Caleb had fought alongside the man, David. He says that he promised Caleb to protect his family, yet Caleb's sister has her suspicions as he is seen to be very hostile at a party she invited him to. The rest of the family sees nothing wrong with David, but Anna calls the base David was discharged from, and we get scenes revealing something went wrong with David and the squad he was in when he was overseas, leaving the audience with a thrilling mystery. Sadly, this mystery is revealed through the man leading the military police to take down David, and it is less complex than it could have been: SPOILER - the military did a medical experiment on David and his squad, and David rebelled and made it out alive after the experiment was conducted. The experiment was used for a specific mission, and now David is "programmed" to kill anybody who might give up his identity since it may compromise his "mission," whatever that is.

The best part of the film is Luke's struggle to recognize David as a hero/villain since David is the first person to stand up for him, although David presents himself as dangerous on a number of occasions. This was the only really defined internal struggle in the film, and they could have made Anna - who I consider the main character - have more complex insecurities like Luke. To me it was only fun to watch Luke and David, Luke because he is the underdog who we feel sorry for, and David because he kicks so much ass.

I really could not stand some of the acting in this film though. The Peterson (parents) seemed to be reciting lines like they were eager to have their lunch breaks instead of truly getting into their characters. Especially the dad. From the first scene he appears in it is hard to read him; he seems mad to have David as a Guest but then does a 180 without really changing his tone of voice or anything. And the next night drinks a good amount of beer with David while going on a rant about his life. Are you happy or sad that David is here? It's hard to tell when you only act with one tone in your voice the whole movie and without mannerisms to make you a unique individual.

Sorry Jon, I don't feel this film was underrated as you did, but it is fun to watch David at certain points.