APT PUPIL
Disturbing, but man, that kid's dopey lookin'
Apt Pupil is likely the first Stephen King straight drama adaptation to open to anything less than stellar reviews. Reasons for this vary from critic to critic; most of them seeming put off by the use of Holocaust themes in a way widely regarded as frivolous. Oh well.
It's been a long time - I was younger than the titular pupil - since I've read this story, and I'm prompted to have another look. The story is, except for one glaring contrivance, fascinating. An obviously very intelligent teenager in the mid-80's finds out that a neighbor of his is really a Nazi war criminal in hiding...the thus begins to blackmail him into telling him all the things about the Holocaust from which young ears are normally shielded. The two each take turns playing the puppet and the puppetmaster, teaching (or reminding) each other of what evil they're capable of.
The performances are spotty. Ian McKellen excels completely as the Nazi in hiding, shading his character with equal doses of evil and shame, with maybe a touch of madness too. Elias Koteas does very well in a brief role as a bum who catches McKellen in a rather compromising position. Brad Renfro, however, is unfortunately subpar as the increasingly disturbed teen. He wears the same slack-jawed idiot gape on his face throughout the film, only looking dangerous or disturbing on a Deliverance level. And David Schwimmer, in an important role as the kid's guidance counsellor, does his best but simply cannot be taken seriously looking that silly. I mean, just look at him - the theater I was in erupted with laughter. I'll bet yours will too.
A subplot from the book (the one that made me think "Man, this is some fucked-up shit!" when I read this) involving a female classmate of the kid's is almost completely dropped. Presumably because getting that R would've been tricky otherwise. But still, as I said, the plot is excellent, except for the contrivance, and one other thing. I found it extremely contrived and unlikely that the Nazi would run into a, er, former acquaintance, in an adjacent hospital bed. Especially after something like 80% of those acquaintances have passed on since they, uh, knew each other. On the other side of the world. I dunno. Struck me as bullshit, sorry.
And that other thing...the boy's ultimate conversion to the Dark Side is illustrated with an odd point in the film's final moments. I don't know about you guys, but what he threatens (to demonstrate this point) is something I wouldn't put past a lot of people I went to high school with. It's no less ghastly, but it's kind of everyday. Maybe it wasn't in 1984.
Overall, though, a fine film, and a redeeming effort from Bryan Singer who previously gave us The Usual Buttsex, the 1995 all-male feature that fucked you up the ass with a bullshit ending. One question, though. I seem to remember that cat not getting away in the novella. A "LOST KITTY" poster late in the film seems out of place and meaningless here, when the cat escaped more or less unharmed. Post-test audience editing lapse?