DVD The Resident

'The Resident' is a handsome looking thriller, with some really beautiful cinematography in particular (by Hellboy's Guillermo Navarro), & high production values in general. Unfortunately, that's about all that's going for it – there's nothing even remotely new or surprising on display in this film, nothing you won't have seen a hundred times before.

Hilary Swank is a young ER doctor who moves into a new apartment building in Brooklyn, owned by the charming & handsome Max, who we come to find is psychotically obsessed with her..

Yep, like I said, you see where this is going. Swank isn't called on to do anything much more than take her clothes off every once in awhile, which is a pity as she can be a fine actress, given the right role. Jeffrey Dean Morgan's performance as Max is delicate, sensual & actually quite moving early on, but he is at odds with the film he is appearing in, which simply wants him to be a generic cardboard cut-out psycho. There is no real attempt at explanation for Max's behaviour, & no empathy for him as a human being. His maleness is portrayed as a threat, & creepy simply by definition.

Christopher Lee is, as always, a welcome sight, but is wasted as a spooky 'Norma Bates' style parent with about 4½ minutes of screen time. The only other male in the film is Juliet's "asshole" ex-boyfriend Jack, who has even less screen-time than Lee, & if you've seen any of this genre of film before, you'll have a pretty good idea what he's for, what he does, & where he ends up.

This is a misandric movie because there are no ordinary men in it, only bad, psychotic or inadequate men. The woman, on the other hand, is portrayed as entirely good & a victim to boot. Which makes it no different from countless other films you've seen before, of course. But the point is, there will be countless more, if no-one ever stops to point it out.

I wish there was more to say. There's a couple of good shocks in there towards the end, & some nicely handled suspense but it just seems a pity to have wasted them on something so wholly unoriginal & unpleasant as this.

Somewhat creepy, a voyeuristic "ick" factor, even decent acting but it never feels grounded and completely falls apart by the end. To its credit, the idea might've sounded better on paper, but doesn't work on film.

A major problem is we have little connection with our characters other than the likability and vulnerability Hilary Swank naturally brings to the screen. But there is no motivation for anything that happens: from coincidental meetings, to needing a giant apartment, to why the over-the-top infatuation, etc.

The plot holes are so gaping it ruins the realism. Seriously, would somebody visiting a hospital really find an ER doc extremely hot in scrubs? Is a $3800 apartment a good deal for any single lady? Why would a voyeur need to stalk around inside an apartment when he's got every vantage point from behind the walls? It's just full of dumb… and frankly, without realism you're removed from caring too much and it's not scary.

Oh, and if your only interest is peeking in on Hilary Swank (yes, pun intended), you'll likely be disappointed on that level as well.

Naturally the very moment "the resident" discovers the secrets of her landlord, she has no opportunity to escape, cell phone stops working, boyfriend is… well, basically the ending is full of chasing and one gotcha scare after another… and another… and another. Did they rewrite the script a bunch of times, but forget to remove the early endings? Perhaps the gotcha scares work on some level, but by the end I just wanted everything in fast-forward… and that's saying something for a movie where the credits roll after only 86 minutes. Skip it!