The Good Son
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Movie Reviews of The Good Son
Movie Review: Good son, bad son
Summary: 4 Stars
It's child-star vs. child star in "The Good Son," a disturbing suspense movie about the brutality that even children can commit. Somehow it's not surprising that Ian McEwan wrote the screenplay -- it's no cheery, cutesy story, but a horror movie in every sense of the word.
As the movie opens, Mark (Elijah Wood) is brought to his mother's bedside as she dies. At the funeral, his father learns that he will have to go on a business trip, which will "set you and Mark up for life." So he drops off Mark at his uncle and aunt's in New England, hoping that the boy will buck up emotionally when he's around other kids. At first, all is well -- Mark immediately becomes pals with his cousin Henry (Macaulay Culkin), and the boys are soon inseparable.
But then Henry enlists Mark in a crazy prank: throwing a dummy onto a crowded highway, causing a massive accident. Mark realizes that his cousin cares nothing about the lives of others -- and discovers that he may have caused his baby's brother's mysterious death. But no one believes Mark -- and now Henry is planning to kill others in his family...
It's a sad fact that children can be as evil as adults, but the myth of childish purity sticks to us. That's why "Good Son" is so disturbing. Rather than treating the two kids as cardboard cutouts, they are as complex as adults -- capable of good or evil, and of terrible thoughts and actions. And, as we see in Mark, they can be heroes as well.
The storyline has a few too many cliches -- for example, the parents are utterly in the dark about Henry's true nature, although the mom does get a clue late in the movie. Ian McEwan did an excellent job with the scripting, however, slowly building up the suspense through little things like Henry pondering, "If I let you fall... do you think you could fly?" as Mark was dangling off a tree's branch. He also gives a sense of despration, as Mark tries to rescue Henry's little sister from an "accident," or destroys all the food when he thinks Henry has poisoned it all.
Wood gave a stellar performance as Mark, though he was the lesser child star at the time. He uses his expressive face and eyes to full advantage, showing all of Mark's horror, indecision, fear and sorrow without a word. Too bad Culkin wasn't nearly as good -- his portrayal of Henry is completely flat. The most emotion he ever shows is a shrug; I almost expected him to yawn.
"The Good Son" is a disturbing suspense movie, and not one that can be forgotten quickly. The main problem with it is Culkin's acting, while Wood did an outstanding job.
Movie Review: two of the top child actors go face to face in this epic masterpiece
Summary: 4 Stars
Joe Black's Reivew Ok get straight
this was good movie for caucklin and wood they both had amazing chemistry together e. wood mom just passed away and his uncle told his father to let him stay few weeks with his cousin (m. caucklin) the father agreed and dropped his son off to spend winter break with the uncle and his family i like how caucklin fooled everyone about him being a great kid and looked at e. wood like he was crazy becaus e wood was trying to convince everyone that m. caucklin was a phony who was dangerous m. caucklin n da movie, he drowned his baby brother in the tub and nearly killed his kid sister in the icing pond mark (e. wood) try to tell his aunt but she didn't belive him until henry ( tried to kill her too at the end of the movie but e. wood came to make the save and m. caucklin got what he did to others one of the most powerful scenes in film history has to be when henry's mom was holding both henry's and mark's hand on the top of the cliff so neither of the boys would fall but susan (henry's mom) decided to let go of henry's hand due to all of the terrible things he did to the family when he fell off the cliff and died she saved mark, mark always thought susan was his second mom that was one of the best rated r children movies i have ever seen my mom always talks about that scene in the movie because my mom said it would be difficult for her to chose to save me or my brothe because my mom loves us both my mom said all three of us would have to fall off the cliff this movie was filled with emotion, drama, some fun and action moments to keep u entertained throughout the movie JB's back
Movie Review: A Neat Psychological Thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
{spoilers}:
"If I let you go...do you think you could fly?"
This is what I think is a special quote when I watched the theatrical trailer on my DVD of "The Good Son" and it is a very interesting opposite turn in Macaulay Culkin's career from the "Home Alone" movies to this where he plays a murderer named Henry. This is really worth watching if you've never seen it and if you like thrillers.
Mark Evans {Elijah Wood} goes to live with his aunt and uncle and his cousin Henry after his mother dies and his father goes away on a business trip. When Mark first meets Henry, they are great friends. Their friendship goes too far when Henry soon becomes evil and Mark is the only one who sees the truth about his cousin after he kills a dog with a crossbow and Henry wants Mark to have fun in his own way when Henry throws his dummy Mr. Highway onto a crowded highway and causes a pileup, and while Henry tries to kill his sister several times. Later on, Mark keeps trying to convince Henry's mother Susan {Wendy Crewson} that Henry is murderous and she doesn't believe him, so Mark is left to confront Henry before anything worse can happen.
I usually don't watch thrillers, but this is cool. I thought it was worth seeing to see Macaulay Culkin's psychotic acting and it is worth about 4 and a half stars because it starts out a little slow, but when Henry's friendly behavior changes, it's worth all the rest that it's worth.
Movie Review: Nice thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
This film gets 4 stars because the child actors shine so much in it. The plot is not very intriguing, and you know that nothing like this can happen in the real life, so it lacks this sense of reality. A dearly beloved child by perfect parents can never turn out to be a killer, which is exactly the point of this movie.
However, this does keep you glued to the screen and wondering what will happen in the end, and the film is a delight to watch purely because the children are so cute. Elijah Wood is stunning, only due to his efforts can the film get some believability. Caulkin is perfect in this role too, portraying the bad boy, I have no idea why people would point out his acting as poor. Maybe only comparing to Elijah, but hey, he is widely consirered as one of the most talanted actors of his generation and the most talanted holywood child star ever, so no wonder you cannot compete with him... Anyway, this film is certainly worth watching as a family entertainment and is absolutely a must for Elijah Wood fans!
Movie Review: Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood a great combination
Summary: 4 Stars
In this scary movie. Mark's mum dies when he is about 10 years old and he goes to stay with his uncle, aunt and cousins for a fortnight while his dad goes on a business trip. He is also under psychiatric treatment because of the trauma of his mother's death. Mark innocently gets involved in Henry's evil plans to kill and maim for fun!! Henry gives the impression of being a little angel to his parents and uncle and only shows his darker side to Mark. He even tries to convince everyone that his evil ideas have come from Mark because of the traumatic loss of his mum. Mark fails to convince his father, his uncle, his aunt or his psychiatrist of the evil doings of Henry right up to the end of the film. I won't spoil it for you by telling you the outcome. A very enjoyable film that had me on the edge of my seat almost all through.