Movie Review: Apt Pupil (1998)

Welcome back to my Stephen King movie reviews! Thus far I've reviewed Pet Sematary and Thinner. Both of which I had a great time rewatching. Apt Pupil is a 1998 film directed by Bryan Singer. The film is based off the novella written by Stephen King and stars Brad Renfro and Ian McKellen in the lead. Apt Pupil by far is one of King's most disturbing and unsettling stories. The movie isn't just a horror film, it's actually a very intense and dense psychological thriller. Renfro's character Todd discovers that a next door neighbor of his named Dussander (Ian McKellen) is hiding a secret....he's a nazi war criminal. Todd is obsessed with the holocaust, we get that sense from the very opening of the movie and this leads his character to blackmail Dussander into telling him all about the crimes and felonies he committed against society. Of the three movies I've watched so far in this series of reviews, Apt Pupil is by far the best. This actually is a good film and what makes this movie stand out so much to me is the acting. Brad Renfro always chose really great roles, but they were always very gritty too. This is no different than that. Renfro channels a disturbing, serious, and even dangerous performance in this movie as a character who is just immensely un-likeable. Then there's Ian Mckellen's character who also is very untrustworthy and we don't like him at all. The acting shines in this film and the bond between these two characters (toxic maybe) is still a great on-screen relationship. As far as the overall story goes, I thought it was decent. Like I said, this movie really is very unsettling, but where it fell short was the overall conclusion and meaning. After the flick ends, I felt myself wondering what exactly I'd just seen. Bryan Singer himself called Apt Pupil a "study in cruelty" and explored how evil is spread. While I like the premise of that, I don't think Apt Pupil really understands what it's about. The film would have been so much greater and more meaningful if the conclusion actually elevated us as the audience, to a higher power. We needed to learn a lesson or hear a conclusion about life in this film.  Instead, it has an overly violent ending and tries on more than one occasion to needlessly disturb us. The film ends in such an odd manner that I scratched my head at why it even exists. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy this film because I did. Apt Pupil is a good film, but it needed to elevate itself to something greater than just a thriller. Had it as a film done that, it could have been great. Overall, Apt Pupil is a good movie with good acting, interesting chemistry between characters, but doesn't have a real ending message or purpose, or point. Three stars