'The Guest' movie review & recommendation

Actor Dan Stevens, most notably from the television show Downton Abbey, plays David in this psychological thriller.  The premise of this movie is as follows: David arrives at the home of a deceased soldier, whom David claims he served with in the military, and is greeted by the deceased soldier's grieving family consisting of a father, mother, brother, and sister .   David explains to the family of the deceased soldier that his dying words were for David to reach out to his family and simply let them know the soldier loved them very much.  The mother initially suggests that David stay in their home while David search for a more permanent situation.  After the father learns of the invitation, there is a scuffle between the mother and father as to the arrangements offered to David.  Eventually, the father concedes and extends the invitation for David to stay; David accepts.

The brief summary of the happenings in the very first moments of the film seem quite mundane and undramatic.  However, I must say that the acting by Stevens playing the character of David is, from the very outset of the movie, in a word: creepy.  Not overtly creepy like Jack Nicholas in The Shinning , but much more subtle like when the high E string is plucked on a guitar that is slightly out of tune; it's disturbing to the ear but not enough to make one cringe.  David's stature, square jaw, piercing blue-eyes, calming voice, and aloof personality in conjunction with his polite demeanor and overall charisma make David a complex character.  When David's character is viewed in the context of the scene describe above, one can easily infer that there is more to the story than David is letting on.   David's persona, throughout the entire film, has calming yet unnerving effect in every situation, which makes earns the film its 'psychological' piece of psychological thriller.  I would venture to say that if Stevens' acting was not on point for this film, then I would not have bothered to watch it or recommend anybody else watch it.

So, in order to not give any spoilers, I shall simply summarize the rest of the story just enough to where you can make an informed decision about whether to give it chance or not.  David infiltrates the deceased soldier's household and begins develop relationship with the members of the soldier's family.  David, furthermore, becomes the healing presence for the family's grief, but simultaneously being an object of skepticism.  The plot is ingrained in David's ability to befriend the members of the deceased soldiers family: the brother, who has a tendency to be the object of others' ridicule and aggression, ally with the daughter, who is still in adolescent stage of life wherein the consequences of life have not set in, the mother, who has just lost a son and is ignored by the father, and the father, who is an alcoholic drinking to suppress whatever pity he may have for himself.  These relationships are crucial to David's intentions and thus have significant importance in how the story-line plays itself out.

There are, of course, twists and turns within the plot.  Some of which will be anticipated by the viewer who is a frequent watcher of this genre of film.  However, there is one plot twist that is especially noteworthy (I will not detail it any further) and almost changes the direction of the entire film.  I caution the viewer of this not to spoil anything, but to exploit a potential hiccup in the film's plot that may leave the viewer with a bad taste in their mouth.  There is some gore involved but nothing over the top.  The film proceeds at a steady pace most of the time; however, there are scenes that seem to drag on longer than necessary where a shorter scene could be just as effective.  Overall, it's a decent film for those who like character development depth (nothing too deep though)  and appreciate a manipulative plot with some action scenes thrown in for good measure.

I am interested in reading future comments about what everybody thinks who has either seen this movie or sees it in the future with regards to their reaction toward the ending.  Particularly, I am interested in reading thoughts on the response to this question: Did the ending make or break the movie?

This movie as of 1/17/2016 is still available on Netflix for those of you who hold a subscription.

The Perfect Host (A Hidden Gem)

For those of us who use Netflix or any other kind of streaming service, we are all too familiar with taking a chance on a movie and it turning out to be awful.  Sometimes if I start a movie on Netflix and I get 20 or 30 minutes in and I'm uninterested, I'll just turn it off and do something else or find another movie.  Searching for quality movies worth investing two or even two and a half hours of our time can almost be as painful as trying to by a car (notice I said almost, buying a car is still more of a pain in the ass).  However, sometimes randomly taking a chance on a movie pays off and you actually find a good one.

In the case of The Perfect Host, the chance I took payed off big time.  This movie is by far one of the best movies I have ever seen.  The genre of movie that The Perfect Host falls under is psychological thriller mixed with elements of horror.  The twists and turns within the plot of this movie are more than likely enough to keep anyone entertained (who is interested in these genres of course).  The plot in a nutshell is difficult to put into words because I do not want to give the wrong impression about the movie or mislead anyone.  I, first and foremost, absolutely do not want to provide any spoilers because the twists built into the plot are what push this movie from good to great.  I could just be a simpleton, but the ending caught me completely off guard.

So, in light of not wanting to spoil anything for a future viewer regarding this movie, I will just say a few simple words about the plot.  Actually, using Netflix's description of the movie is sufficient, it says "A fugitive on the lam crashes a dinner party.  But he regrets it when the host has him convinced that he would have been better off hiding elsewhere."  If anyone is really interested in learning more about the plot, then go to IMDB or any other professional or amateur site and look it up.  You can also find other movie reviews sites to satisfy your curiosity.  However, I strongly suggest and recommend that anyone, who takes my recommendation at face value, not do any research on this film before you watch it.   I assure that the plot is excellent, acting is brilliant, and the twists that unfold at the end are well worth giving this film a shot.