This Turns Out To Be Surprisingly Exciting

Rating: 8/10 (17 April 2010)

This movie is certainly not a good commercial to promote the adoption of older children! I know that for that very reason it sparked a bit of negative comment from the "adoption community" for exploiting that angle. Having said that - as a member of that community, I can't see any reason that this particular subject matter should be declared off limits to Hollywood. The only issue for me as someone who watched this is whether or not it's a good movie. In fact, it is. It's well constructed, and moves the viewer logically but unpredictably toward a very violent and climactic ending, with a twist that was completely unforeseen. By the last 20 minutes or so, this actually had me on the edge of my seat.
As the adoptive parents, Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard were effective - Farmiga moreso, I thought. Sarsgaard's character came across as a bit of a dunce, quite frankly, and I wasn't especially sympathetic toward him. That's not Sarsgaard's fault, of course. He played the character that was written. It's just that Farmiga as the embattled mom Kate was the one who garners the sympathy and concern of the viewer, and I wondered throughout how she was going to avoid taking the blame for everything that was happening. In the end, though, the performance that stands out is neither of those. It's young Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther, the adoptee who ends up destroying the family. Fuhrman was absolutely brilliant - especially considering her age and lack of experience.
Fuhrman's performance aside, what I appreciated was the way director Jaume Collet-Serra kept building the suspense. Just when you think you know what's going on, there's another twist. At first, my expectation was that this was going to be some sort of supernatural "spawn of the devil" sort of film, and had very low expectations. Then it seemed to settle in as being little more than a story about a child raised in a Russian orphanage with all the assorted problems that can create. Then it seemed to become a psychological thriller, as Esther starts to seem less like a well-adjusted child and more like a truly insane and depraved child. Then there's the final twist that I won't reveal but that truly did shock me. After that revelation, though, the movie does become extremely violent - although given what we learn about Esther's background, the violence is to be expected. Overall, this is excellent. A movie that keeps me on my toes with twists and turns and leaves me on the edge of my seat has done something very right!