Apt Pupil

Rating:
Summary: Strong suspense thriller from an Stephen King Novel.
Review: Apt Pupil was one of the most anticipate films of 1998 and also was again one of the novel by King, this one of these films was trying to bring at the big screen for more than the last ten years from 98 to around 1985. True, there is a fascinating premise about young teenager know about the old man, keep it for himself, who`s is hiding from the law, who`s really a Nazi Criminal. The 16 year old boy wants to know from the criminal about his past, what has he done in his dark past from learning history that man. Excellent performances by Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro helping pulling to this film in a strong way. Well directed by Bryan Singer(The Usual Suspects, X-Men) is equally powerful and Excellent screenplay by Brandon Boyce. Terrific score by John Ottman, who`s has also edited the film. This is also one of the best and most underrated adapation from King story or novel.

DVD is excellent picture quality on the anamorphic Widescreen(2.35:1) format and Dolby Digital 5.1 Soundtrack is fine also. Grade:A. Super 35.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and surprising; a perfect psyche thriller.
Review: Based upon a novella by writer Stephen King, "Apt Pupil" is a harrowing and chilling achievement that takes its audiences on a journey into the very core of evil and deception. Brad Renfro plays the part of a young boy in the midst of studying Nazi Germany at his high school. Upon reading several books and viewing numerous photographic accounts, he discovers that a man who lives in his town is really a Nazi officer secretly hiding in America to escape persecution in his own land for his war crimes. The boy pays a visit to confront the man, Mr. Dussander, played by Ian McKellen. In exchange for his blackmailer's silence in the matter, Dussander keeps up his part of hte bargain by agreeing to tell the boy everything he wants to know about what happened in the Nazi concentration camps. The more the boy inquires into the old man's past, the more the old man begins to unlock the devil inside of him from long ago, and he begins to go back to his past through actions and emotional outbursts. Soon, the both of them are tangled in a web of lies, deceit, and suspense that neither of them can escape. Stopping here is a must, for saying anything more will ruin the many subplots of the movie. McKellen and Renfro give stellar performances that add tension and incredible emotion to the characters. The storyline and subplots all coalesce at times to create a highly energetic and stunning cinematic achievement that is one of the best examples of storytelling since "The Silence of the Lambs."

Rating:
Summary: A poor adaption of a great story
Review: As usual, it seems like the director never reads the book. We all rented this and were disappointed up to the end. Where was the famous scene where the boy shoots at passing cars on the highway? The metal band Anthrax knows more about this story than these movie makers. Check out their song 'Skeletons in the Closet'. That was a great adaption. This movie sucked.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant study of human Cruelty. The real question....
Review: ...is not why the Holocaust happened, but, in the words of Max von Sydow's artist in "Hannah and her Sisters", why it doesn't happen more often. "Apt Pupil" is one of the most harrowing, horrifying, repulsive films I have ever watched, and given that I'm a great fan of everything from Peter Jackson's "Dead/Alive" to the insane cinema of Japanese gore-master Takashi Miike ("Audition"), that's saying something. The blood doesn't flow like claret and the gore doesn't cake the walls, but a warning: "Apt Pupil" is not for the faint of heart.

To begin: I'm not a big Bryan Singer fan, and I was relatively unmoved and unimpressed with "The Usual Suspects." That said, Singer has an exceedingly subtle touch with distills one of Stephen King's best short stories into an engaging and particularly nasty piece of cinema that bores deep into the fundamental cruelty that feeds and nourishes human evil.

Tod Bowden (played with understatement and sublime nastiness by Brad Renfro) is a high school student who discovers that an elderly German man---who might just be an infamous Nazi war criminal---is living in his quiet Southern California neighborhood. Bowden confronts his reclusive neighbor, presents evidence of his past as the notorious Gestapo officer Kurt Dussander (impeccably played by Sir Ian McKellen), and by degrees blackmails, coerces, and ultimately flatters the old man into telling him about his atrocities during the war.

The movie that follows is a superbly paced and increasingly psycho-sexual ballet between the boy and the old Nazi, who is at once Bowden's mentor, idol, victim, and catalyst. Both Renfro and McKellen are so perfectly cast and so competent in their roles that the viewer is made uneasy by the way the two seem to feed off each other, glutting themselves with stories of past horrors---and growing stronger with the telling. Particularly awful is the scene where Bowden buys Dussander an SS costume as a 'present', and then cajoles him into dressing in it and marching. What initially begins as an embarrassed reluctance to even don the uniform turns into a manic peformance, and as Bowden demands that Dussander stop, the old man whispers "be careful boy---you're playing with fire." Indeed.

The brilliance of "Apt Pupil" is in the way the film distills the essence of cruelty, particularly in two scenes. While I will not spoil the film by talking about either scene, both involve McKellen and Renfro in acts of shocking, amoral, sociopathic savagery to a wounded bird and a cat. When I watched the scenes, I had an epiphany---the source of depravities like the Holocaust, or the Stalinist purges, or the genocide in Rwanda has never been about race, or religion, or politics, or tribe---all of it stems from a dark desire by some men to inflict brutality on the weak, for no better reason than they derive pleasure from doing it.

This philosophy underscores "Apt Pupil", and is, in my opinion, the reason the film succeeds so well at painting a realistic picture of human horror. Renfro's Tod Bowden is not a young Nazi; like the killers at Columbine High School, he is a bored coward with too much time on his hands and a decidedly cruel streak.

The acting is excellent throughout, with David Schwimmer (of Friends) perfectly cast as hapless Jewish high school guidance counselor, and Elias Koteas taking on yet another repulsive role as one of McKellen's vagrant victims. Like "American Psycho", "Apt Pupil" is not an exit, and the film offers no easy answers, leaving the uneasy viewer with a disturbing coda which prompts a question: is cruelty a force that can be harnessed for power?

Rating:
Summary: Facinating study in evil....
Review: The third film spun from a book by Stephen King (the others being Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption), Apt Pupil is adapted with skill from the book by director Bryan Singer.

The story centers around an intrepid young suburbanite who tracks down an elderly Nazi war criminal in his neighborhood. The teenager, Todd, (played by Brad Renfro) at first has the older man where he wants him and humiliates the Nazi Kurt Dussander (played masterfully by Sir Ian McKellan) and forces him to give him graphic accounts of his crimes, always hanging the evidence he has against him as the "sword of Damacles" over his head. However, through an interesting series of events, the teenager's school troubles result in a stunning reversal of fortune for Todd and he is forced by Dussander to do his bidding. All of the while, Todd is slowly becoming like the evil Dussander whom he despises and is facinated with. Todd's strange evolution from a pigeon killer to a cruel blackmailer and murderer is stunning.

David Schwimmer also has a great role as Todd's hapless guidance counselor Ed French. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool enemy of the TV show Friends, but Schwimmer's performance was excellent and gave me a newfound respect for him as an actor.

While most alterations of books in the translation from page to screen are almost always for the worst, the film version significantly alters the ending of the book for a vastly improved effect. The book ends in a typical Stephen King-esque gory way. The film's conclusion is more in-line with the subtle and creepy tone of the entire book and is much better than the book's ending.

The bottom line is that this is a vastly underrated movie (much like the Shawshank Redemption when it first came out in theaters) and another great adaptation coming from a Stephen King book (makes me wonder when someone is going to put out "The Breathing Method" on film).

Rating:
Summary: Don't believe true evil exists? You have a lot to learn!
Review: Director Bryan Singer seems fascinated by the dense blackness that comprises the unpleasant side of the human psyche, and he has built a reputation on creating films that explore those darker facets of mankind. Fans will not be disappointed, then, by APT PUPIL (1998). It is a riveting but disturbing fictional thriller that deals with the real-life subjects of evil and the Holocaust, the latter being a topic that is often regarded as too sensitive and controversial for all but non-fictional works. With APT PUPIL--which is based on a Stephen King novella--Singer actually uses the Holocaust as a backdrop for his exploration of the ease with which evil can take root in even the most prosaic of locations in the everyday world. And to a lesser degree, the film is also Singer's comment on the strong influence that an authority figure can have on shaping the worldview of a naïve and eager disciple.

In the film, an American high-school honor student (Brad Renfro) who is fascinated by the history of WWII--specifically the Holocaust--discovers that an elderly German émigré (Ian McKellen) living in the neighborhood is actually a hunted Nazi war criminal incognito, and the clever boy is able to gather enough evidence of this fact that he could easily expose the old man's true identity. But instead of turning his data over to the authorities, the boy uses it to muscle the elderly gent into sharing the details of the atrocities he committed during the war--details that "they're afraid to tell us about in school."

Of course, the old Nazi is outraged, but he also knows he's been trapped. So he ultimately resigns himself to the situation, and detailed stories of heinous actions he does tell. It isn't long before the recounting of his wartime atrocities awakens the old man's long-dormant fiendish and sadistic urges. And though the stories at first give the boy nightmares, it doesn't take too long for the boy's mind to start soaking up the vicious and perverse Nazi philosophy like a sponge soaks up water. The boy is an apt pupil indeed.

The acting in APT PUPIL is nothing short of superb. As the Nazi fugitive, the venerable Ian McKellen delivers a tour-de-force performance. He skillfully creates a convincing portrait of an utterly sadistic and amoral personality that is successfully kept hidden behind the façade of a subdued and affable persona. McKellen's performance is so realistic, in fact, that one is simultaneously awed by the actor's talent and disturbed by his characterization. Brad Renfro is also excellent--and frightening--as the white-bread everyboy whose minor inclination towards sadism is transformed into unfettered evil under the influence of the aging Nazi refugee. And though Renfro hasn't McKellen's range of skill or experience, he plays well against his mature colleague and does not come off as second-best.

David Schwimmer--better known from his role as Ross on TV's wildly popular FRIENDS--gives a believable and refreshingly somber performance in a supporting role as the boy's school counselor. And genre fans will surely recognize Bruce Davison, here playing the boy's father, from his break-out performance as the titular character in the original WILLARD (1971). Fans may also recognize genre regular James Karen, who here appears as the boy's grandfather.

As stated before, it is often considered a no-no to reference or address the Holocaust in fictional films. So it's not surprising that some critics decry APT PUPIL for trivializing the Holocaust and the suffering of Holocaust victims. But this criticism is unfounded, especially in light of the character treatment in this film. While it may be true that McKellen's interpretation of the fugitive Nazi is sometimes sympathetic, the actor never portrays the old man as repentant and therefore never assuages the repugnance or wickedness of the acts committed by such Nazis during WWII. And when the boy reveals what HE has become under the old Nazi's tutelage, his true nature is regarded as frightening and dangerous and NOT glamorous or alluring.

The DVD edition from Columbia/Tristar is a two-sided disc that offers an anamorphic widescreen version of the film in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio (side A), as well as a full-screen pan-and-scan version of the film (Side B). The widescreen version is pristine, with few, if any, visible digital or filmic artifacts. Also on the disc are the original theatrical trailer and a short making-of featurette. All in all, this is an impeccable, reasonably priced edition of a captivating film that belongs in the collections of all serious genre fans or lovers of good cinema.

Rating:
Summary: Three words: Creepy as hell.
Review: Apt Pupil is not the standard Stephen King adaptation. This film has but one dismemberment, and very little of the standard visceral carnage that is featured in most of his books and the films they are adapted to. In this, the Stephen King fanatic may be very disappointed.

But Apt Pupil should not be tossed aside so easily. This film is a terrifying psychological thriller that will leave you dazed after viewing it. The story is that of young Todd Bowden, a straight-A high-school student who discovers his German neighbor is actually a Nazi war criminal and tries to manipulate him into sharing his terrifying past. Todd's queries reawaken the devil inside the old man, and as he is absorbed into the Nazi psyche himself, Todd begins to develop an incredible capacity for evil...becoming the old man's "apt pupil."

Both actors play their parts superbly. Brad Renfro is perfectly cast as the innocent-turned-evil, playing an intense young man with a capacity to do great things, while Ian McKellen plays the Nazi Kurt Dussander as far more than an old man...like a frail, but terrifying force of pure evil. McKellen even pulls off a perfect German accent...his Dussander is flawless.

The film's terror comes not from the deaths involved, which there are many of, or the horrifying stories Dussander tells. The moments where the film shines are parts akin to the one where Todd forces Dussander to don an SS uniform and salute him as he would the Fuhrer, or when one of Dussander's former victims recognizes him in the hospital after having a friendly chat with Todd minutes before about the man's condition.

The film is accompanied by John Ottman's wonderful music, his moody and deep orchestrals setting the perfect mood, while the creepily cheerful "Das ist Berlin" almost makes you shudder.

The dialogue is sometimes flawed, and seems unrealistic, as when Dussander is approached by the homeless man, or when Todd argues with the Nazi about school. Also, the film's pace is slightly rushed, and seems a little off...but these are minor flaws to a masterpiece. Bryan Singer deserves a laurel wreath for this.

Rating:
Summary: "Well today I am going to tell you story about an old man.."
Review: This movie was not a horror movie like the preview might stimulate it as being but it is more of a dark drama, until the middle when it starts going into the thriller genre. This movie was as good as it was because of one person, Ian Mckellen. He made the movie and put on a chilling performance as the Neighbor Nazi. The movie's ending I didnt expect it, but it did not have the huge twist like Usual Suspects, Singer's other movie, but I still thought it was neat. Overall for six dollars i felt that this movie was sure worth the price and i would have payed ten to see it.

Rating:
Summary: Implausable.
Review: 'Apt Pupil' was half decent until the ending, where the resolution of the story was ridiculously implausable. Yes, the Germans did very terrible things during WWII, but how long will the media continue to hammer the Germans over and over again? Haven't we had enough of the German Holocaust Thing? How many more movies can they possibly make about the subject matter??

Rating:
Summary: DILATED PUPIL
Review: Buoyed by the marvelous performances of Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro, APT PUPIL, Stephen King's expose on the horrors of the Holocaust, manages to entertain and provoke thoughts of this horrible blight on mankind.
However, at the heart, I couldn't understand Renfro's obsession with the Holocaust, nor really understand where his cold heart came from. His cruelty in humiliating McKellen during the infamous uniform/march scene, is totally despicable in showing Renfro's callousness. Everything points to the fact that despite McKellen's evil, Renfro's is even worse in that he chooses it for pleasure, rather than the distorted duty of a Nazi soldier.
The movie seems a little long at times, but director Bryan Singer keeps things interesting and his evocation of the above mentioned performances, is to his obvious credit.