Apt Pupil (1998)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Top high school student Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) uncovers his elderly neighbor Arthur Denker (Ian McKellen)'s secret identity as Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander. Instead of turning Dussander in, Todd blackmails him to recount stories of the Holocaust and his inner Nazi is revived. Todd's grades go down and his interest in life suffers. School counselor Edward French calls him in and Dussander pretends to be his grandfather. Dussander turns the tables on him claiming to pull him down with him if the authorities are called in. Todd starts to study again and go out with friends. Then Dussander raises the stakes.This film based on Stephen King's story has its creepiness. Renfro and McKellen do their roles well. After McKellen goose-step in the Nazi uniform, I expected him to convince Todd to his Nazi ways. It would be great for him to persuade Todd to hate. I don't buy his threat to pull him down with him because the situation is easily explained. It makes Todd a lot dumber than I want him to be. Instead of threats, it would be more compelling to lure him by reasoning. As soon as Dussander made the threat, any reasonable kid would go to the cops to spin the story his way and preempt any story that Dussander would tell. It's creepy but I never bought all the way in on this movie.

Apt Pupil is an adaptation of a Stephen King short story. The film is set in the mid 1980s when a smart and cocky teenager, Todd Bowden interested in World War 2 suspects a neighbour of being a fugitive Nazi.Both enter a game of oneupmanship as at first, the fugitive Nazi, Dussander (Ian McKellen) is on the back foot but the elderly man is wily and cunning and wrests control.Bowden instead of turning the fugitive into the authorities wants to hear stories of the war and concentration camps, even gets Dussander to don a Nazi uniform and the relationship brings out demons on both the characters where a strange friendship and alliance ensues. Dussander even at one point pretends to be Bawden's grandfather in order to improve his school grades.However events with a homeless man and a spell in hospital when Dussander becomes ill threatens to bring both their worlds crashing down.The film is intriguing and interesting with a sly performance by McKellen who makes his character sympathetic at first, ashamed of his past. There is an interesting cameo by Michael Byrne as a concentration camp survivor (an actor best known for playing a Nazi in an Indiana Jones film.)The film then starts to lose its way a little, becoming a little predictable, losing some tension along the way. I understand the film departs from King's novella in its conclusion and although not wholly successful the film is still worth investing your time.

Unlike many people, I enjoy adaptations that stray from their source material as long as it lends a different perspective or tells the story in a way that both the adaptation and source can be enjoyed on their own merit, but this film completely misses the point of the Stephen King novella that it is based on.Aside from this point, the acting was unbelievable and actually quite laughable throughout and you could tell that this was not the fault of the actors, but the direction of the actors and possibly a rushed production. And it is a very rushed production because the story is over and told before we can even completely feel, see and understand what drives the characters to behave in the way they do.The novella is about human corruption and the evils of human nature and explores how the evil of the holocaust transcends just those events and could lead to something of greater if humans allow themselves to become corrupted. Although this film adaptation seems to acknowledge this theme, so many shocking things happen in the source that are completely lost in the film that the viewer is not allowed to see the weight of the corruption.Many things simply make little or no sense in the film because the story is so rushed. Dialogue is often quoted verbatim from the novella, but lose their power and are actually somewhat confusing because other parts of the novella that are crucial to the characters' development are not even mentioned. Things happen in the film that make you think, why did they do that? That's strange, no one would do that in real life without motivation, unless they were crazy, of course. But we haven't established that anyone is crazy. Stupid perhaps, but not crazy.On the subject of stupidity, it's important to note that throughout the film, I get more of an impression that the 'apt pupil' is actually pretty stupid and is not even convincingly academically intelligent.The ending of the novella was unsettling and provocative, but the ending of the film was just a reminder that you wasted an hour and a half of your life that you will not get back. And the way it ended, what was the point? I won't say what happened although I can't say that this film can even be spoiled because nothing really happened in it, but the whole film was pointless. It was like the series finale of Dexter all over again...It's such a shame because Ian McKellen really looked the part of Dussander and played him very well as much as Bryan Singer let him... I think I'll watch Shawshank to cleanse my film palate..

Ian McKellen is an actor I know very little about, but after his unbelievable performance in "Apt Pupil", I am definitely going to seek out more of his films. The story of the student, Brad Renfro, and the Nazi war criminal, Ian McKellen, is both unique and intense. Their uneasy relationship is quite unpredictable as to who actually has the upper hand. At the same time, things seem to be spiraling out of control for both of them. The conclusion is quite chilling, as the sinister Gereman fugitive seems to have taught his pupil well. This film has violence, but it should not be considered exploitation. "Apt Pupil" is beyond the ordinary, thought provoking, and powerful. - MERK