Movie Review: The Guest
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
The film, The Guest is truly all about Dan Stevens. Stevens plays David (aka The Guest). He is a most sinister cross between Ryan Gosling and Channing Tatum. This film is sure to catapult him into instant heartthrob status. I for one am looking forward to seeing more of him in the future. Stevens is not just a pretty face, but a quite believable character as well.
The story begins with David paying a visit to the Peterson family. David explains that he served in the army with their recently deceased son and that he was with him when he died. The Peterson’s welcome him with open arms. The mother, Laura (Sheila Kelley), appreciates David’s ability to fill in the empty places of her heart. The father, Spencer (Leland Orser), embraces David as his new drinking buddy. The son, Luke (Brendan Meyer), is indebted by David’s kicking the butts of the seniors at school that have been bullying him, and giving him the confidence to stand up for himself. Finally the daughter, Anna (Maika Monroe), is enamored with his good looks and the cool way David fits in with her friends.
In the beginning everything is going swimmingly. Spencer gets a promotion because his boss is found dead. Anna’s troublemaker boyfriend is arrested for allegedly killing someone. Luke’s future is looking brighter with his newfound confidence. But alas things start to go bad when Anna decides to start doing some investigating into her dead brother’s “friend” only to find out that he is not who he says he is and a massive manhunt ensues.
Major Carver (Lance Reddick) heads the search and is foiled time and again because his conquest is not unlike a terminator of sorts, indestructible one could say. The Guest leaves a very possible open end with room for perhaps Guest Two, Guest Again or maybe even, Second Guest?
Overall, The Guest is just above average, a smidge above a rental. It’s moderately entertaining with a fair degree of action and suspense. The Guest missed a few marks by not giving clarity to exactly why David visits the Peterson’s or detailing the experiment that he was a part of as I’m not a huge fan of leaving so much to speculation.
Betsy Cizek
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