Closure (2007)

Closure

Excellent movie for the Gillian Anderson fan. It's nice to see her back at work again acting. November 17, 2008

So much potential, and it all goes haywire.

Straightheads (Dan Reed, 2007)

Despite something of a weak beginning, I have to say that for the first hour, Straightheads (released in the US as Closure) struck me as the kind of movie I'm always looking for, an overlooked, underrated gem that people didn't get simply because most people who go to movies seem to almost pathologically avoid overthinking them. It had everything a smart, low-key psychological thriller needs. Then it all went to pot in the space of two or three minutes; another could-have-been great film that ended up mediocre.

It starts off with what might be the least realistic opening scene in filmdom: an executive named Alice (Gillian Anderson), who's getting a security system installed in her swanky house, decides on a whim to ask Adam (Danny Dyer), the guy installing the system, to go to a big work do with her. I don't say unrealistic because of the situation; I say unrealistic because, well, it's GILLIAN ANDERSON. Why does she need to go hitting on security system installers when she could have me? But I digress. In any case, big party, driving home, car accident, very bad things happen with the locals. Cue big revenge drama, like Straw Dogs, but with the roles reversed-- Alice is the one hell-bent on making the bastards pay, while Adam, who lost an eye in the attack, is counseling moderation. Just when the two of them are ready to carry out Alice's dastardly plan, however, a monkeywrench is thrown into the works: the guy they're after has a daughter, Sophie (Francesca Fowler). Alice switches gears: she'll save the daughter before offing the father. This is not where the movie goes downhill (surprisingly), but this is where the setup for the implosion begins. By the time we get to the big climax-- which, as it turns out, is not big at all (it has the same anticlimactic feel as Straw Dogs, which I will keep referencing in this review until everyone's mad at me, but without anywhere near as much violence)-- we're entirely uncertain what's going on. There's a good deal of psychological trickery at play, but where any of it's going to lead is anyone's guess. Normally, that's a good thing. Here, it isn't.

This made the Times' (London, not New York) 100 Best Films of 2007. Over Zodiac, no less, or even such lesser, but still not bad, lights as 1408. And I'll give you that for the first forty-five minutes or thereabouts, this really does have the quiet-thriller-that-blows-up-in-your-face feel to it, and I was completely ready to go wherever it took me. Then it started playing with what I can only assume was supposed to be ambiguity, and, well, things went downhill fast. I must admit, though, it was certainly nice to see that much of Gillian Anderson (who COULD'VE HAD ME!) for the first time since The Turning, and that may be enough to convince Anderson fans to give it a go; too bad the last half hour of the film doesn't hold up. **

July 18, 2008

Harsh revenge story

This movie runs pretty close to violent classics like, I Spit On Your Grave. While Gillian Anderson plays her role well, as a tough-minded, good-looking business woman, the story is too graphic for my taste. The basic premise is that Anderson is a successful business woman who picks up a younger man and takes him to a party. Some of the scenes really seemed unnecessary, like a guy in a wheel chair, at the party coming on to her, her having sex on the lawn with her boyfriend and her boyfriend cranking himself when alone.

On their way home from the party, a truck full of drugged up men brutalize the couple. Anderson is brutally raped and her boy toy is severly beaten. She quickly sets up in a cabin which just happens to be easy access to the home of one of the rapists. With a silenced rifle she looks for targets and sends her boyfriend on errands, like retrieving a dead dog and installing a movie camera inside of the rapist's home. This dude plays her little helper monkey without taking any initiative on his own. They catch one of the rapists and violate him in a gruesome fashion. I had to fast forward through this movie hopeing that it would make some kind of sense. While it might appeal to people who want to see a strong woman take hard revenge. I think that the whole story line could have been better.

Doug Setter author of One Less Victim

April 28, 2008

Only good thing is Gillian

This movie was a total disappointment. I rented it because I am a Gillian Anderson fan and usually whatever she is in her acting makes it incredible but in this even her talent could not carry it. The script was horribly written and the leading man made you want to shot him. The script was very choppy and seemed forced into trying to carry a plot line. God willing X Files 2 will be worthy of her talent. If your curiosity still gnaws at you please rent it first before you waste your money purchasing it. April 18, 2008

Gripping, disturbing and thought-provoking

Gillian Anderson is becoming more beautiful and interesting as she gets older. The round-faced freshess of her X-Files days is gone, replaced by a sleek steeliness. And in this film she's 180-degrees different from her X-Files character, and for us that's a very good thing, because we see a performance that's tough--aggressive, even--unnerving (and that's even before she and her date are viciously attacked), and yet still vulnerable. Much is communicated through facial expressions and body language, not dialog. Danny Dyer's Adam is a perfect foil to her toughness, being basically a big kid at 23 with a low-paying job and a general innocence and decency that he holds onto through most of the film. The circumstances presented in the film are really just opportunities to explore the characters, as they both deal with the aftermath of brutality in different ways, shifting toward and away from each other, phasing between power and powerlessness, outrage and fear, conscience and brutality--sometimes all within the same scene. In this film what's gripping is less the plot (although there are a couple of nice twists at the end) than the character study of two people whose already-empty lives literally implode and the choices they make in the aftermath. Every moment Anderson and Dyer are on screen is riveting. I stayed up way too late watching this movie because I had to see how their emotional drama played out. April 11, 2008

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