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Closure by Dan Reed
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Adam Rayner, Anthony Calf, Antony Byrne, Danny Dyer, Gillian Anderson Director: Dan Reed Brand: Sony Writer: Dan Reed Producer: Alexander O'Neal Producer: Damian Jones Producer: Kevin Loader Producer: Lee Thomas Producer: Paul Trijbits Producer: Peter Carlton DVD: Region Code 99 Audio: English (Original Language); Chinese (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Korean (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed) Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 80 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-09-18 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of ClosureMovie Review: So much potential, and it all goes haywire. Summary: 2 StarsStraightheads (Dan Reed, 2007)
Despite something of a weak beginning, I have to say that for the first hour, Straightheads (released in the US as Closure) struck me as the kind of movie I'm always looking for, an overlooked, underrated gem that people didn't get simply because most people who go to movies seem to almost pathologically avoid overthinking them. It had everything a smart, low-key psychological thriller needs. Then it all went to pot in the space of two or three minutes; another could-have-been great film that ended up mediocre.
It starts off with what might be the least realistic opening scene in filmdom: an executive named Alice (Gillian Anderson), who's getting a security system installed in her swanky house, decides on a whim to ask Adam (Danny Dyer), the guy installing the system, to go to a big work do with her. I don't say unrealistic because of the situation; I say unrealistic because, well, it's GILLIAN ANDERSON. Why does she need to go hitting on security system installers when she could have me? But I digress. In any case, big party, driving home, car accident, very bad things happen with the locals. Cue big revenge drama, like Straw Dogs, but with the roles reversed-- Alice is the one hell-bent on making the bastards pay, while Adam, who lost an eye in the attack, is counseling moderation. Just when the two of them are ready to carry out Alice's dastardly plan, however, a monkeywrench is thrown into the works: the guy they're after has a daughter, Sophie (Francesca Fowler). Alice switches gears: she'll save the daughter before offing the father. This is not where the movie goes downhill (surprisingly), but this is where the setup for the implosion begins. By the time we get to the big climax-- which, as it turns out, is not big at all (it has the same anticlimactic feel as Straw Dogs, which I will keep referencing in this review until everyone's mad at me, but without anywhere near as much violence)-- we're entirely uncertain what's going on. There's a good deal of psychological trickery at play, but where any of it's going to lead is anyone's guess. Normally, that's a good thing. Here, it isn't.
This made the Times' (London, not New York) 100 Best Films of 2007. Over Zodiac, no less, or even such lesser, but still not bad, lights as 1408. And I'll give you that for the first forty-five minutes or thereabouts, this really does have the quiet-thriller-that-blows-up-in-your-face feel to it, and I was completely ready to go wherever it took me. Then it started playing with what I can only assume was supposed to be ambiguity, and, well, things went downhill fast. I must admit, though, it was certainly nice to see that much of Gillian Anderson (who COULD'VE HAD ME!) for the first time since The Turning, and that may be enough to convince Anderson fans to give it a go; too bad the last half hour of the film doesn't hold up. **
Summary of ClosureGillian Anderson stars in this dark thriller about a couple that embarks on a violent spree after surviving a gang attack. Driving back from a posh party at a country estate, Alice (Anderson) and Adam (Danny Dyer) find themselves brutally assaulted by a group of hunters. Physically and emotionally devastated by the attack, the tables suddenly turn when they discover the identity of their attackers. This time, it's their turn to exact the ultimate revenge. The X-Files' Gillian Anderson gives an impressive performance as a woman obsessed by revenge in this sleek and chilly English thriller by documentary filmmaker Dan Reed. Anderson is top-billed as a Brit businesswoman who invites the rough-hewn tech (Danny Dyer) who's installing her security system to a business party in the country. Slow-boiling sexual tension between the two to an erotic encounter in the woods - which is soon undercut by a savage attack by a group of local hunters, who rape Anderson and beat Dyer senseless. As they recover, viewers soon learn that the pair's trauma runs deeper than just the physical level - Dyer is emotionally shattered, and Anderson is gripped by a need to repay her attackers with violence more terrible than what they visited upon her. Though the plot occasionally veers into implausible territory, the couple's search for the guilty party - and the gruesome fate they have in store for them - is unnerving, and made all the more so by Anderson intense turn, which presents a torrent of conflicting emotions raging just below her cool, porcelain surface. - Paul Gaita
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