bill bodkin reviews the psychological thriller …
Plot: A book editor (Daniel Craig) moves his wife (Rachel Weisz) and children (Taylor Geare, Claire Geare) into a their “dream house.” Soon, he discoveries that the previous inhabitants were brutally murdered, and this dream house has more secrets that may pertain to his life.
The film Dream House mirrors the house of the title. It starts out really strong, full of life and, in the end, it turns into a dilapidated, broke down palace of ideas.
The premise is given away in the film’s trailer. A well-to-do suburbanite (Craig) is investigating the mystery surrounding the deaths of the previous residents of his new house, supposedly murdered by a man named Peter Ward. But … big plot twist … this well-to-do suburbanite is actually Peter Ward. He’s actually suffered a break with reality after his family was murdered. Now he’s out, based on a lack of evidence, and now he seems to be hallucinating (or is he?) that his family is still alive.
So we’re posed with a few questions. Is he really Peter Ward? Is his family actually dead? Is he dead? Is he the killer? Is there another killer? Is this part of a book he’s imaging in his head? Or is there some crazy acid-tripping mind grenade twist that we’ll never see coming?
Yet with all these really intriguing questions, we’re never given a good answer. See, everything falls apart leading to and following the big reveal.
Why?
Because the big reveal just kind of happens, there’s no big gasp inducing realization. In fact the reveal is kind of a letdown. It’s actually quite a pedestrian reveal, that while you didn’t see coming, it still doesn’t impress you. And after you find out what the reveal is you’re stuck with a “really?” look of disgust/confusion on your face for the last 20 minutes.
Following the big reveal, the film ends in such a very tacked-on, Hollywood ending. And what makes this such a bad thing is that it goes completely against the film’s ominous and mysterious tone. It’s way too straight forward and gets tied up too neatly. The ending feels forced, as if it were added in a re-write or reshoot after a test audience hated the original film.
Yet despite this poor ending, there’s one really strong element to this film — Daniel Craig. Craig’s descent into the mouth of madness is really something special. If you’ve only seen him as Bond and his few roles since Casino Royale, you’ve never seen how good he is, especially as a particularly surly character. Not since his role in Road To Perdition as the oily Connor Rooney has Craig been such an emotionally flawed and fragile character. His performance alone is worth checking Dream House out.
In the end, Dream House might not deliver on the big promises its trailer suggests, but it’s still a solid, somewhat entertaining film that’s more of a rental than a theater visit.
Who gets out of a mental institution due to lack of evidence? He was still way screwed in the head, they should never have released him. Made no sense.