The Gift (Movie Review)

Sometimes, the marketing department can be a movie's worst enemy. In the case of Joel Edgerton's directorial debut, The Gift, they took the most obvious course of action...a revenge thriller with a shocking plot twist. It's the easier choice to be sure, but a misleading one at that. Sadly, it undercuts what is otherwise a nearly flawless debut for Edgerton as both writer and director.

The film stars Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall as Simon and Robyn, a married couple looking for a new start in California not far from Simon's childhood home. After leaving some personal struggles behind in Chicago Simon runs into Gordo (Edgerton), a former classmate. Their encounter inspires Gordo to leave Simon and Robyn a series of well intentioned gifts and unexpected drop ins- many while Simon is at work and Robyn is home alone. A bit weirded out Simon tries to cut ties with Gordo so he and Robyn can focus on starting their family- free of their creepy new admirer. Unfortunately, Gordo is still harboring some unresolved issues between him and Simon and is intent on seeing that he gets some form of retribution.

The Gift in many ways is just your typical slow burn revenge thriller. Take that as you will, but if it turns you off then you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice by writing it off. Hand it to the marketing team for painting the film as a paint-by-numbers mystery thriller, even though Edgerton's film has higher aspirations. Quite frankly the why of Gordo's grudge is far less interesting than the story as a whole. In fact the mystery is not as hard to pin down as some would have you believe. Yet, like a great magician Edgerton uses the "mystery" to keep you on your toes, but dazzles you with his showmanship. The Gift isn't so much a vehicle for a jaw-dropping twist as it is a complex character study of three uniquely diverse characters.

Anchored by three outstanding performances from Bateman, Hall, and Edgerton the film seems like a time capsule back to a time of great bare-bones thrillers. With the exception of two fairly cheap jump scares Edgerton brings every tool in his arsenal as writer and director, constructing a white knuckle edge-of-your seat experience that'll stick with you for days. Though it takes a while for the truly troubling content to begin escalating, Edgerton's script is airtight from start to finish leaving the audience with some thought provoking questions and themes to ponder.

As a cautionary tale about the long gestating consequences of bullying, The Gift is a wickedly chilling cinematic experience. Perhaps equally as impressive is the presence of not one, not two, but three multi-layered performances by the leads where not a one of them feels shortchanged. When all is said and done The Gift is exactly that for genre fans- a gift-wrapped compelling character study and ultra tense thriller that'll get and keep people talking for quite some time.