Apt Pupil (1998) Ian McKellan, Brad Renfro, Bruce Davison, Elias Koteas, Joe Morton, David Schwimmer, Jan Triska, Michael Byrne, Heather McComb, Ann Dowd, Joshua Jackson, Mickey Cottrell. Screenplay by Brandon Boyce, based on the novella by Stephen King. Directed by Bryan Singer. 112 minutes Rated R, 2.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to pbbp24a@prodigy.com
"Apt Pupil" is one of the more peculiar films to come down the pike in quite some time. While the psychological horror story of the relationship between a teenage boy and a Nazi war criminal is certainly creepy, director Bryan Singer maintains an odd sense of distance that blunts the effectiveness of the production. We expect a probing examination of the essence of evil, but the film stays too close to the surface to deliver any insight. As a result, using a Nazi as the bogeyman feels arbitrary and vaguely exploitative rather than dramatically justifiable.
Set in 1984, the story (based on a Stephen King novella) introduces young Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro), a high school honor student who becomes fixated on Nazis and Holocaust imagery during sociology class and continues his private research at the local library. Bowden, a resident of Incredible Coincidences, California, notices that one of his fellow bus passengers bears a striking resemblance to a Nazi war criminal. Several weeks later, the boy shows up on the doorstep of Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen), threatening to expose the man unless he tells him, "everything they're afraid to tell us in school."
And so the relationship begins, with the grizzled old man recounting tales of atrocities while the kid sits transfixed, drinking in every word. As their symbiosis-by-blackmail continues, two things happen: Bowden becomes increasingly demanding and dictatorial as his obsession grows, while Dussander finds his long dormant sadism resurfacing. Clearly, it's only a matter of time before the wily old man figures a way to turn the tables on his young master.
The psychological study of Bowden and Dussander is very intriguing, but director Bryan Singer doesn't sufficiently explore the psyches of his characters, leaving us with an aged one-dimensional monster and an underdeveloped monster-in-training. The actors are definitely not the problem. The remarkable Ian McKellan is skilled enough to give his character more depth than the anemic script provides (although he moves into caricature during an over-the-top goose-stepping scene), and Renfo is no slouch, maintaining a fierce focus that makes his fresh-scrubbed innocent appearance all the more chilling.
At first the Nazi imagery is appropriately disturbing, but as the film wore on, it felt more and more like a simple gimmick; just another in a long line of Stephen King creep-outs. The story's level of coincidence is absurd. After successfully eluding the authorities for decades, McKellan gets spotted not once, but twice during the course of the tale. I'm willing to suspend disbelief to an extent, but two separate discoveries doesn't just strain credulity, it snaps it in two.
Beyond the film's problems with structure and logic, I also found certain shots of Renfro more than a little disquieting. Early in the film there's an aerial view of the youth resting on his bed wearing only boxers. The camera moves over the smooth curves of his underage body, sensuously accented by moonlight. Later, in a shower scene, we get a teasing shot of the boy's rear, followed by a front view oh-so-carefully framed to barely conceal his genitals, while displaying as much of his perfectly lit body as possible. While I enjoy looking at an attractive physique as much as anyone, these loving displays of the body of a minor made me uncomfortable. If the filmmakers want to flash some beefcake, I'd prefer they use grown-up subjects.
"Apt Pupil" shows evil as a force that is communicable, but doesn't provide the all-important character development that would explain the mechanics and motivations. It purports to be an examination of what drives humans to commit acts of indescribable horror, but barely scrapes the surface. By staying in the wading pool rather than taking a high dive, the film leaves us only with a compelling, if contrived, psychological cat and mouse story. Making matters worse, the story stretches on too long and even throws in the inexcusable cliché of a supposed corpse springing back to life for one more cheap scare. "Apt Pupil" had incredible potential, but in the hands of Bryan Singer and scripter Brandon Boyce, it ends up just a moderately involving creep show, and a veritable cavalcade of missed opportunities.
© 1998 Ed Johnson-Ott
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