The Resident Reviews
The Resident
Juliet (Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby), a beautiful doctor, has found the perfect New York apartment to start a new life after separating from her husband. It’s got spacious rooms, a spectacular view, and a handy, handsome landlord. But there are secrets behind every wall and terror in every room as Juliet gets the unnerving feeling that she is not alone. She is being watched. She is being stalked. And no one is safe when she discovers the relentless horror on her doorstep. But how do you stop an evil that you can’t see…until it’s too late? Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Grey’s Anatomy) and screen legend Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings) costar in this pulse-pounding shocker from famed horror studio Hammer Films (Let
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A Film You Want To Love….,
THE RESIDENT is one of those very well made (directed by Antii Jokinen), well photographed (cinematographer Guillermo Navarro), well scored (music by John Ottman), well cast films that just doesn’t manage to get off the ground. The idea for the film is OK but the script written by Robert Orr and director Jokinen is so slim that the film could have been a successful short: everything you need to know is in the trailer. A thriller it is not, but the people in the film are so attractive that much is forgivable.
Hard working ER Doctor/Surgeon Juliet Devereau (Hilary Swank – who also is executive producer here) is bruised by a broken relationship: Jack (Lee Pace, well remembered for his role in ‘A Soldier’s Girl’) betrayed their relationship. Juliet needs a change and looks for an apartment in New York City, eventually finding an affordable gorgeous space being renovated by owner Max (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, handsome and charismatic). Max is strange but pleasant and goes out of his way to please Juliet. Max lives in the apartment house as does his grandfather August (Christopher Lee), and when the emotionally vulnerable Juliet is attracted to Max, Max is the one who shuts down. But the chemistry has begun and Max spies on Juliet, stalking her, making videos of her in bath, obsessing over her etc. Juliet meanwhile reconnects with Jack, a fact that motivates Max to change the direction of his approach to Juliet. What follows is a series of strange incidents that the audience will know about ahead of time and the ending just sort of happens – without much suspense or caring from the viewer.
Swank is up to par in her professionalism and both Morgan and Pace are interesting to watch. The film has some nice effects and the cast is attractive and maybe that is enough for a no-brainer film. Pleasant but non-involving. Grady Harp, March 11
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|Stupid Heroine in a Not Scary Movie,
Pretend you’re a female emergency room doctor. Pretend you’re really smart, because you had to be to get the job you got. Now pretend you’ve rented an apartment in New York. Now pretend you’ve just figured out someone is in you’re apartment and they’re going to kill the man you love who is on the way over. Do you pick up your cell phone, try and call and because you can’t get through, do you run as fast as you can through traffic, hoping against hope you can get there before the bad guy kills your lover, all the time while you’re running trying to call your lover and warn him about his impending doom. Or do you call 911. Jeez Marie, why do the heroines in horror movies have to be so stupid.
Let’s pretend still further. Let’s pretend you’re an ER doctor, who’s really, really smart and who’s in tip top shape, you’re as tough as most men, because you run and work out. Now let’s pretend the bad guy’s already killed your lover, he’s tried to kill you, you knock him down, you can easily kill him, but you don’t, instead you beat him up a little, then you run away, so he can get up and chase you some more. Not once, not twice, but several times. Why don’t you just kill him when you can, I mean he’s killed your lover. He’s trying to kill you. Why or why do smart, gutsy female heroines have to be so stupid.
Let’s pretend some more. Let’s pretend the bad guy’s in your apartment, hiding in your closet. Let’s pretend you lover brings over his dog and the dog goes straight for the closet, barking to beat the band. Do you go to the closet and check it out, or do you have your filmmaker creator just edit the dog out of the rest of the movie and pretend it never did find that killer in the closet.
Jeez, I wanted to like this movie, I love Hillary Swank and J.D. Morgan, but they made a stupid movie, because a movie can’t be scary if the heroine is so stupid. As soon as she starts doing stupid stuff normal people wouldn’t do, you start to lose your suspension of disbelief and start screaming at the TV.
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|Let me do a favor and spoil this for you.,
Normally I don’t try to reveal spoilers on my book and DVD reviews but I owe a favor to anyone who might consider renting, buying or viewing this horrible piece of movie making (and calling it movie making is an exaggeration).
Hilary Swank, an Oscar winning actress had taken quite a career tumble as she portrays an emergency room doctor seeking an apartment in NYC. She comes across a huge apartment at a bargain rate. (Warning one-If you get an amazing bargain in NYC, something bad is about to happen!)
She rents the apartment from Jeffery Dean Morgan (who I wail always remember as “dead Denny” in Gray’s Anatomy which spoiled that entire series for me forever) is the landlord and as the viewer finds out early in the movie he is a combination stalker/pervert/peeping tom/sex addict/psycho/killer who spends more time sneaking around Hilary’s apartment than she does. He also has multiple viewing areas into the apartment which allow him to view Swank at his leisure. He can watch her as she bathes, cooks, sleeps and drinks. (which is part of her problem. ER doctors need to be careful about drinking too much)
Christopher Lee is totally wasted in his role as the grandfather of Morgan who starts off as a spooky old man and ends up as a dead one.
Lee Pace is Swank’s ex boyfriend who manages to rekindle his romance with her and anyone who has ever seen a suspense cum horror film knows what happens to that kind of person. No surprise here.
The last 20 minutes of this film is tediously filled with Swank taking down her landlord in a knock down drag out ridiculous physical battle and him rising again like Michael Myers in the Halloween films. I get so tired of heroines who never watch one of the films over the last 50 years where you knock the bad guy down, run away and have him pop up again in the most unlikely spots. Eventually Swank prevails, the bad guy is dead, the old man is dead, the boyfriend is dead and the movie simply ends. Unfortunately not fast enough and the viewer is left wondering what they could have down with the 90 minutes they have wasted watching this waste of good celluloid.
The one good thing I can say is thankfully I got this movie as part of the Vine program so the only thing I wasted was time. Whew! You owe me big time Ms. Swank!
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