Rating: 
Summary: King's novella chilling and effective on the big screen
Review: Ian McKellan gave a chilling performance as a guy who used to be a Nazi. Brad Renfro was perfectly cast to play a kid fascinated with the morbid stories. I just rented this. It was tense and suspense-filled
Rating:
Summary: The Evil: The apt pupil
Review: The Evil LIVES, isn't it always more fun when there isn't some 2 hour solution to a story book ending. Incredible story, incredible acting, incredible.
Rating:
Summary: Terrifying and disturbing
Review: If there is a problem with Apt Pupil, it is that the film is middly in love with itself - becoming especially drawn out near the end. Some might also find the ending a bit anticlimatic. Overall though, you wan't be disappointed - and might even develop a tendency to gaze a bit longer than usual at the next old man you see on a bus.
Rating:
Summary: Apt Pupil
Review: Normaly I feel cheated when the end of a movie is different then the book. This was rare exception. I won't spoil anything, but suffice to say what made the movie more scary is that fact "the Evil" lived on. See the movie, then read the book if you think I'm a clueless [person].
Rating:
Summary: A work of art
Review: This film was great! The actors were great and the storyline kept you gripped all the way through it...id advise you all to watch it couse when you have watched it you will want to own it so you can watch it over and over.
Rating:
Summary: An totally fab film
Review: This is one of the best films that I have ever seen. This film goes where other films fear to go. It explores the idea that we are all inherently evil, or capable of evil, given the proper change or circumstances. It is a psychological thriller. That deals with the human psyche. It does justice to King's novel.
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Summary: this kid is sick!
Review: Apt Pupil is not your typical Stephen King, in that its horrors lie more in historical tragedy than on stunning visual effects of gore and whatnot. Brad Renfro plays a junior high student on summer vacation (whose guidance counselor is nerdily played by Friends hipster David Schwimmer -- it's worth seeing this movie for this change in character alone.) He discovers his new neighbor (Ian McKellan) used to be a Nazi officer, and spends his days in sick fascination of his past, goading the man to relive his past in retold stories. The tables are turned on the kid though (a typical King movie device). You have to watch what happens, the ending is scary in the fact that this could really happen in your neighborhood and you would never know.
Rating:
Summary: Apt Pupil
Review: This one of the best Stephen King movies ever made. It's so intensive, with great actors and a sad ending. Watch this, if you need a masterpiece!
Rating: 
Summary: Little of note here
Review: Based on the Stephen King novella, lifted from the 'Different Seasons' collection, this movie has Brad Renfro as Todd, a kid who uncovers a Nazi war criminal, Dussander (McKellen) and who threatens to discover him unless he recounts what happened in the concentration camps during the War. Due to the disturbing nature of the book and the fact that this is directed by Bryan Singher as a follow-up to his much acclaimed 'The Usual Suspects', you might be expecting something original and frightening. Yet this is not strictly true. Whilst McKellen really does do an excellent job as the war criminal both disgustful and lusting of his crimes, Renfro cannot pull off the complicated role of Todd Bowden at all. Whilst in the book we saw Todd travel from 13 year-old kid of high hopes to an unhinged and murderous teenager leaving high school, Renfro stays the same age throughout and so any theme of innocence corrupted is completely lost. Plus, the decision to axe most of what in the novel made for powerful and provocative, if disturbing, scenes makes the movie less about the characters themselves and more about trying to frighten the audience. Of course, it's always such a cliché to say that the book is better than the film but in this case much of the potency of King's story is utterly lost. That's not to say that this is a complete waste of time; McKellen gives a provocative performance, David Schwimmer takes on an unglamorous role (even if you still keep thinking of him as Ross from 'Friends') and Joshua Jackson pops up in what must by now be his hundredth supporting role. In addition there are some well-done, pretty horrible, dream sequences such as where the locker room is turned into the 'showers' of the concentration camps. Still, at the end of the day this doesn't make its audience think about the horrors of the concentration camps but rather serves up an ending that is so trite that you will invariably find yourself sneering at it.
Rating:
Summary: "Todd Bowden......You Said Was His Name?!"
Review: Rarely do films have a first rate all around cast, that really brings you into the story and keeps you there! This film does so very well and then some! Brad Renfoe (Todd Bowden) is a very bright high school student with a great future ahead of himself!
However in his small souther California town one day he discovers a secret no one would ever even think of. A Nazi war criminal lives right down the block from him. This man is Sir Ian McKellen (Kurt Dussander) and is living in his home without a clue that his past could catch up with him. It does....but in no way he could have thought! So after Bowden tells Dussander he knows his secrets, he wants him to tell of all the things that aren't in the text books at school. Here is where the movie picks up. They form a friendship if you dare call it that. That goes into a twist even more twisted when Dussander meets Bowden's parents. So instead of having this old man in his plam like he thought, Bowden discovers first hand that evil is very close too him and it didn't die when Dussander left Germany after the war. Bryan Singer shows his steady hand as the film has many different twist and turns. A supporting cast that features Elias Koteas, David Schwimmer and Bruce Davison (Todd's dad)! This film brings a new twist to the table, was done very well and goes to show that blackmail can go both ways. A solid well acted, directed and written thriller! Grade:B+
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