I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Before I even start my review of this movie (which I liked) I gotta say "Apt Pupil" has got to be the goofiest name for a story since the hilarious 30 Rock spoof "Rural Juror". Say it 10 times fast and you'll feel like you just came back from the dentist.Anyhoo...There have been many films and books that attempt to explain the horror that we humans are capable of. While I haven't read the Stephen King nouvelle "Apt Pupil", I can tell you this film adaptation kept my attention and tossed around some new ideas I hadn't really considered.If you haven't already seen it, search for the Stanley Milgram experiment. It was a psychological test done by a Yale student back in the 1960s offering one of the most chilling explanations for the phenomenon of Nazism, a convincing illustration of how humans can do horrific things. The gist is that we convince ourselves that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing ("just following orders" or "everyone told me to do it"). The video is online on dailymotion."Apt Pupil" surprised me by taking a very different approach which I won't ruin for you. I'll just say that it weaves a complex Machiavellian scheme, where evil is deliberate and conscious of itself. It finds its footing by creating a balance of power, reminiscent of the "mutual assured destruction" philosophy in the 80s that led the USA and Russia to stockpile enough nukes to send us to the Smurf universe.OK, enough background. Let's talk about the film already. If the premise doesn't capture you instantly, the impressive directing and musical score should suck you in with its heavy, foreboding mood. Ian McKellan (probably best known as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings but also an accomplished Shakespearean actor) is excellent in the role of an ex- Nazi... a menacing enigma somewhere between a serial killer and a cranky grandfather. Brad Renfro appears on screen as the perfect naïve kid with a perpetual deer-in-the- headlights expression, sort of like John Cusack in the 80s but without the laughs. The film focuses mainly on the transformation of Renfro's character. It's here where I was unconvinced, and I docked the film a point or 2. Renfro's character mutates so suddenly and drastically you'd think he sucked down some radioactive sludge. I feel a lot of his "experiments with evil" were uncharacteristic and thrown in for shock value. No matter how curious a person is, nobody goes from Pollyanna to animal mutilations in just a month or two. It was this seemingly random, inexplicable moral decay which I felt was just injected for cheap shock value. If you can get past that, the real theme emerges.The root of human evil, according to "Apt Pupil," is not random moral decay but actually a complex struggle for power. When this theme emerged in the latter half, that's when I perked up and paid attention. The story then takes on a suspenseful air, and the kid & the Nazi get into an interesting game of cat & mouse.Overall, I'll stick with the Stanley Milgram experiment for the most convincing explanation of human atrocities. But "Apt Pupil" definitely delivers some food for thought. Another film that provides insight is the criminally underrated "Exorcist III" with George C. Scott and Brad Dourif playing mind games in an insane asylum. Also check out the documentary "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer," or on the lighter side, "Dr. Strangelove" makes an interesting commentary on why humans commit genocide. Who knows why humans kill, maim and torture. But as long as we keep investigating there may be hope for us.

a Stephen King adaptation. good basis and seductive invitation for public. and the film is really correct work. tension, performance, levels of darkness. only problem - its message is too obvious. the story desires tell everything. and that everything is great cage for actors and viewer. because the powerful colors has not nuances. and the fight with shadows is a little delicate. but, it is a good film. that fact is not a surprise - Ian McKellen is great at all and Brad Renfro makes the best for his character - but it is something strange and confuse, unrealistic and forced. but the error must be novel author sin. short - a movie about evil. like a mirror almost clear.

They take so many of Steven Kings many best sellers and turn them into movies. For the most part they miss the mark by a longshot with only around three exceptions maybe 5 depending on who you ask these include The Shining, Stand by Me, and the Shawshank Redemtion. Most of his books tuned into movies are terrible and this is one of those.The acting is alright but its nothing like the book at all. The book was very disturbing while this is not in the least disturbing. The story line is not even kept the same. It was the biggest disappointment since "IT" you should only really watch this if you have not read the book but then again Id just say read the book.This movie is about a young boy who finds out one of the elderly men in his neighbourhood is actually a Nazi war criminal. He ends up blackmailing him into telling him the horrors of the Nazi death camps because the kid has a sick obsession with it. He thinks he has all the control over the old man but the old has his tricks.Like I said this movie is no where near as good as the book. If you want a really intense disturbing book read it stay away from the movie unless there is no chance you will ever read the book.

'The Usual Suspects' is one of my favorite films, and 'Apt Pupil' is the closest that Bryan Singer has ever come to recreating the atmosphere and intensity of his prior work. 'Pupil' is a very flawed film, but still an entertaining and insightful one. I haven't read the Stephen King novella which it is based upon for quite some time, so I don't recall all of the differences between the two works.Todd Bowden is a seemingly above average high school student. In 1984, he is a sixteen year old high school senior who is also a star pitcher for his school's baseball team. Basically he is the kind of kid that every parent wishes they had, except that he has a hidden dark side. This dark side manifests itself in a morbid fascination with the horrific crimes against humanity that were committed by the third Reich. An uncredited Christopher McQuarrie opens the film with a fantastically written narration, asking whether the Nazis actions were the result of economic, cultural, or social influences. He then posits that it may simply have been human nature. On the bus home one night, Todd recognizes an old man named Kurt Dussander as one of the famous war criminals he has been obsessively studying. The look of recognition in actor Brad Renfro's eye as the camera pans in is subtly and fantastically depicted. Bowden goes to great lengths to ensure that he has the right man before he confronts him (to include analyzing fingerprints).Todd has no interest in turning the Dussander in; instead he blackmails him into giving detailed recollections of his grisly past. The movie slowly becomes a chess game between the two, and soon they are blackmailing each other. As Dussander warns, Todd is playing with fire.John Ottman's opening score was disappointing, but the rest of the music and his editing were top notch. The film's primary flaw is that ten minutes or so could have been edited out of the middle portion of the film. Elias Koteas is a great actor, but his scenes go on for far too long, to the point of undermining the suspense. Tighter editing could have made this a much more popular film in my opinion, because the performances are stunning. Most of the film consists of Ian McKellan and Brad Renfro's characters in Dussander's house, and to their credit they're always compelling.Two scenes stand out for me. One is the dinner table scene, where Dussander easily wins over Todd's entire family with effortless charm. The second is where Todd forces him to wear an SS officer's uniform procured from a costumer (Dussander wryly notes that he's been promoted when he sees the rank tabs). His gradual descent back into his former self is chilling and McKellan plays it perfectly.Brandon Boyce's script and Bryan Singer's direction are dead on, except as I already mentioned more editing was needed in the middle of the film. The last half hour was masterfully constructed, and although the ending departs from the novella I preferred it. I think it had a lot more substance and was more unnerving than King's sudden, shocker ending. Does the film rely on a two amazing coincidences (Todd recognizing Dussander, and the old man sharing a hospital room with Dussander)? You bet. Does it work? I think so.Overall it's a good film with some interesting suppositions about the nature of evil, and it's a shame that it faded into obscurity.