MIDNIGHT MOVIE REVIEW: Meeting Evil

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Luke Wilson, Peyton List
Director: Chris Fisher
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 89 minutes

John Feltman’s (Luke Wilson) life sucks. Being a real-estate agent, he has been hit hard by the economic crisis. He can’t sell any house, and is therefore fired from the job. He has bills he cannot pay, and on top of that, his own house is being foreclosed. Not the best situation he could be in. It is fair to say, John has to make ends meet. He has to change the downward spiral that is his life, but due to the first few shots from the movie it is safe to say John doesn’t know where to begin. He is desperate. Right at the moment all of this hits him, he hears a knock on his door.

Enter Richie, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Richie doesn’t take no for an answer. Richie is dangerous. Richie is the kind of man you are afraid to say no to. So is John. So when Richie asks John to help him, John sees no other option than to oblige to Richie’s request.

These are the first few minutes of the movie. It starts out pretty slow, but picks up speed pretty fast. You know Richie is a bad guy, mad may not even begin to describe it. But you keep wondering how bad/mad he really is. You do know that Richie has a special plan for John, trying for John to break out of his miserable life. But the way Richie tries to force this upon John, only creates fear in Johns heart.

It is obvious that this film has had a low-budget to work with, but what it did with the little money it had, was tremendous. The two main characters, played by Luke Wilson and Samuel L., are extraordinary cast. Jackson is overwhelming as mysterious badguy, almost making me fear him through the screen. Wilson, younger brother of Owen Wilson, has made a career out of playing losers at life. But by doing so, he has surpassed his older brother, who is hardly seen outside a comedy-role, by being a much better actor. His portrayal of John Feltman is therefore of such quality, that you just want to scream at him to do something about the turn of events in this film.

The director did a surprisingly good job, seeing as he has little experience. Looking at his profile on IMDb, he only directed a few television series and straight to dvd releases, among which the dreadful ‘sequel’ to Donnie Darko, called ‘S.Darko’. Seriously, that movie was horrible. He kinda made up for that with this release. Yeah, it might not be a masterpiece or a blockbuster, but this is something he can put on his curriculum vitae to be proud of.

All in all, this is a pretty good movie. Don’t expect any big surprises (although the ending did have a few nice unexpected turn of events), but if you’re out of options for other, better movies, give this one a try. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed by your choice.

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