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543 reviews in total

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63 out of 82 people found the following review useful:
Do You Know Those People Across The Street?, 15 August 2000

Author: jhclues from Salem, Oregon

Contrary to what you may think initially, nothing happens by coincidence on `Arlington Road.' Outstanding performances by Jeff Bridges (As Michael Faraday) and Tim Robbins (Oliver Lang) highlight this taut thriller about terrorism in America, a disturbing film instilled with a sense of loss, fear and paranoia. Director Mark Pellington perhaps does not mine this vein to the depths, but there is still a silver lining in this movie, which contains elements of two of Alfred Hitchcock's classics, `The Man Who Knew Too Much,' and `North By Northwest.' Had this film been made forty years ago, in fact, Hitchcock would have been at the helm and we would have had James Stewart instead of Bridges and Richard Widmark in place of Robbins. When Jeff Bridges stars in a thriller, you can usually bet that the project is going to be a cut above the average fare of the genre, and this one is no exception, arguably his best of it's kind since `Jagged Edge.' This is a riveting film, and the tension builds steadily throughout as we uncover, along with Faraday, the dark secrets which ultimately lead to an explosive climax. The excellent supporting cast includes Joan Cusack, Hope Davis and Robert Gossett. A trip to `Arlington Road' is a jolt to the senses and may cause you to stop and rethink a few things about your life. At the very least, you're going to want to finally meet that neighbor who moved in across the street last year. I rate this one 8/10.

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40 out of 63 people found the following review useful:
The "how to" on making a good thriller., 27 March 2004

Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

"Arlington Road" is the perfect example for how thrillers should be made.

A good story, a good atmosphere, good actors and voila! you have got a good thriller. "Arlington Road" has got it all and it's a near perfect movie that is a must see for the thriller fans.

The intense beginning sets the mood for the rest of the movie. It's atmospheric and tense right till the good ending. I'll admit that there are some slow moments and some distracting plot lines but it doesn't take away the tension or ruins the atmosphere in any kind of way.

The movie is very well casted with Jeff Bridges as the more and more paranoid getting Michael Faraday and Tim Robbins as his neighbour that he begins to suspects of being a terrorist. Both main actors pull of really well and help to created the good thriller atmosphere that this movie has.

Good thriller with a great atmosphere, story, actors and ending that will stay with you forever.

9/10

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35 out of 55 people found the following review useful:
Flawed but resonant film, 13 September 1999

Author: Sean Gallagher (naes@cgocable.net) from Oakville, Ont. Canada

It seems like every year, there's one or two films which are far from perfect but nonetheless shake us up in ways better films don't quite do. Last year, it was BULWORTH, and this year, it's ARLINGTON ROAD. Obviously, after all that's happened this decade in America, from Waco to Oklahoma City, the time is ripe for a movie to explore the cracks in the American dream which brought about events like those. This film ultimately asks more questions than it answers, but that may just be a condition inherent to this type of film. More troubling is two things: (1) Though I agree with those(and I'll try not to give away too much here) who theorize the ending changes the whole perspective of the film, there are still too many key narrative cheats(a conversation Robbins supposedly had with Bridges' son seems unbelievable, and the traffic light scene near the end also is) to make it fully effective; (2) The film seems a little confused of what it's about; it is a study of one man's psyche, or the nation's?

Still, ARLINGTON ROAD shouldn't be dismissed. There are troubling questions explored, and you don't have to be a conspiracy nut to believe those so-called "fringe" hate groups are entering the mainstream at a frightening rate for a so-called "civilized" society. The ending is also powerful, and though I understand it, more than anything else, was responsible for the delays, I applaud whoever was in charge for not changing it(though again, how they got there is another story). Bridges' performance is another thing which makes more sense once you look back with the ending of the film in mind, and it doesn't seem like over-acting. Robbins is a little more problematic; there are scenes where he's convincing, and then scenes where he goes over-the-top and shouldn't. Hope Davis doesn't have a big part, but she injects a lot into it as usual. But the biggest surprise here is Joan Cusack. Anyone who thinks of her only as a (good)comic actress will be in for a shock; there's one scene involving her which is the scariest in the film.

Again, ultimately, while it leaves you with nagging doubts about the quality, ARLINGTON ROAD makes you think enough to recommend it.

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35 out of 58 people found the following review useful:
A hard core, High Octane thriller with a terrible, disturbing ending. ***1/2 out of ****, 9 August 1999

Author: Blake French (dlfspartan@aol.com) from Michigan, USA

ARLINGTON ROAD (1999) ***1/2

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis, Mason Gamble, and Robert Gossett Director: Mark Pellington 117 minutes Rated R (for intense violent content and some language)

By Blake French:

"Arlington Road" is this year's "Breakdown." It's filled to the rim with hard core, high octane tension and suspense-so much that it is almost hard to catch your breath throughout the movie's running period. Fueled with first rate performances and a script that is understandable and clear, this may be one of the best thrillers.

The movie starts off with a boy, named Brady Lang, who stumbles down Arlington Rd. with blood dripping from his body. Jeff Bridges, who plays Michael Faraday, a single professor who teachers a course on terrorism at a local university, observes this terrified and injured child from inside his car as he drives by. After realizing the nature of his wounds, he dashes out of his car to help. Michael rushes Brady to the nearest hospital, in result he saves his life and meets some people whom he will soon wish he would have never laid eyes on.

Wow. What an exhilarating opening scene. While it may be a little over the top, it does provide the setup needed for such the brutal, bloodthirsty film this really is. It is not a film for younger viewers, and I would check into it some more if you're faint of heart or squeamish in any way. This movie takes itself seriously for every second of the way, unlike many other "scary" movies out there today.

Brady Lang belongs to a new family down the block from the Faraday's, consisting of Oliver, the friendly dad, Cheryl, almost eccentric wife, and their children, who are very bizarre acting. Quiet and suspicious, almost as if they are holding something back. When Michael and his girlfriend, Brooke, meet the Lang's, they introduce them to his son, ask them over for dinner sometime, and look around their new house. Oliver is an architect currently working on a shopping mall somewhere out of town. But wait! When Michael was over there last he saw the blueprint to his "so called" mall, and knows that this is no mall he his constructing.

This makes Michael very wearily of his neighbors, especially when he beholds Oliver's mail and discovers that there may have been a name change sometime ago in Lang's past. He brings these things to the attention to Brooke, only to have her call him paranoid and that his occupation is getting to his head. That is also what his old buddy, FBI Agent Whit Carver, says to him when Michael asks him to do a background check on Oliver.

Things really heat up when Michael discovers the truth behind his friendly neighbor's secret identity. Movie posters and newspaper ads suggest it. Previews and reviews reveal it, and by the time the film takes an unexpected turn in the third act, the only one suspecting Oliver Lang to be just an ordinary person is Michael.

"Arlington Road" is smart enough to develop Jeff Bridge's character with feelings, flashbacks and an emotional past, rather than showing us the details of his past marriage. It is also smart enough not to develop a romantic subplot between Michael and Brooke, beyond the suggestions and interest in each other. It stays on track every inch of the way; all the scenes further the plot a little bit at a time. Leading us with a perfectly structured, flawlessly planned out thriller.

The performance by Jeff Bridges is so great and certainly Oscar worthy we actually buy into the paranoia plot and end up caring about him so much this movie's ending actually hurts to watch. It ruins the entire production. The last twenty minutes of this movie arrant just unbelievable, but the closing scene features a sense of injustice, unfairness, and is unsettling beyond comprehension. All of this and I still have not revealed the actually end to you, and will not. But I hated it, and think the majority of an audience will join me in saying as the closing credits arouse on screen their jaw dropped off their face and hit the floor.

However, I do think the film is unconventional because of the thematic structure it used for its closing and subject madder. If it would have concluded in a predictable, usual fashioned people would complain about that too. It proves how much we care about the characters. And at the same time allows us to realize that this film deserved better, somewhere down the road, it deserved to be much better.

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12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
What a movie!, 26 September 2000

Author: the narrator from Sydney, Australia

I have watched this twice, and despite its many flaws, I thought this movie was dynamite. This movie has the most effective opening sequence ever. The pulsating techno score, the giddy camerawork, if this movie didn't have that opening, I would have given Arlington Road a 7 instead of a 8.5. The movie had excellent, if sometimes overracted performances, particularly from Jeff Bridges, but I'll give special mention to Joan Cusack, her performance was chilling. Tim Robbins, was disappointing. He doesn't cut it as the villain. He was excellent in Jacob's Ladder, but here doesn't make the grade. The script faltered sometimes, towards the end (But not the ending), because it grew a bit confusing. However the dialogue was excellent and always realistic. The direction was outstanding. I could see no flaw in the direction. The cinematography was also excellent, the editing, too. And the music, just fabulous.

I'd like to discuss the ending. After seeing the commercial for this movie and reading the reviews, I knew there was going to be a big, surprise ending. Then how come I predicted the ending to occur?

But in a movie like this it didn't matter. Just sit back, and enjoy this for the acting, direction, music and cinematography. And if you don't predict it, the ending will be a big, satisfying surprise for you. 8.5/10.

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17 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
Should never have been made, 19 May 2002

Author: patrick3201 from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

*****PLOT SPOILERS THROUGHOUT THIS REVIEW******** ******DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM!********

In real life, successful plans (especially military ones) allow for things going wrong, things not happening in the right order, unexpected events and unreliable information. The 'Fog of War' is a major factor in any situation, even with today's technologies. Clever plans have a great amount of tolerance built-in, so they can be changed to fit current circumstances as parts of them succeed or fail, especially when you have little direct control over the situation.

Not so for Robbins' character's terrorists.

- Bridges' character beats up Robbins' badly enough so he feels comfortable leaving him alone but not so badly that he's unconscious. This is all part of the plan, we find out. How could Robbins' character rely on not being either restrained, knocked out, taken to the police or even killed by Bridges' character?

- Bridges' character spends just long enough fighting Robbins' for a bomb to be securely planted in his car, but is in a hurry enough to leave a live and unrestrained Robbins. How could Robbins' character possibly plan for this?

- Bridges' character, a civilian academic in a disturbed state of mind, has enough stunt driving skills to speed through acres of pedestrians in the middle of rush hour, so that he'll just see the noon delivery van disappearing into the FBI building. If he misses the van or arrives before it, or if the van itself isn't on time, the bomb won't get into the building.

- In real life he would have wrecked the car (and maybe damaged or set off the bomb) or been stopped by the police before he was a quarter of the way to the FBI building.

- What if Bridges had parked his car outside and gone in the building by foot?

- Bridges character HAS ALREADY PHONED the FBI building to warn them about the bomb BEFORE he sets out. Why didn't Robbins' terrorists break his mobile phone when they planted the bomb in his car?

- Why didn't the FBI building close its gates after the warning? Surely they would have at least stopped the white delivery van Bridges' character specifically tells his Agent friend to investigate.

- Why the heck is Robbins' character trying to convince the world it's the work of a crazy individual anyway? How does that draw attention to or advance his cause?

- Worst of all, why does Robbins' character embark on an elaborate six month charade of dinner parties, psychological warfare, deliberately injured children, campsite kidnappings, faked car crashes, hidden blueprints, hostage taking, phone tapping, name changes, car exchanges, etc etc? All he has to do is deliver a briefcase sized bomb fifty yards past a small checkpoint. Couldn't he have driven it himself? Couldn't he have abandoned a parked car just outside the building with a larger bomb in it instead?

No one would ever devise a plot anything like Arlington Road except a thriller writer desperate to keep the viewer amused.

This is why the film should never have been made, because it wraps a brainless mediocre piece of entertainment in the bodies of the 149 adults and 19 children who died in the Oklahoma massacre. It is exploiting a recent real-life atrocity purely for the sake of making money and selling videos. Death = $$$$.

It's obscene, and worst of all some people will think this is how terrorists operate in real life. Real terrorists leave arabic flight manuals in hire cars and tell instructors they're not interested in how to land an aircraft, but still manage to kill 3000 people in one day. That's what's really frightening.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Underplayed acting makes for a taught thriller, 11 July 2000

Author: Richard Brunton (imdb-update@brunton.org.uk) from Edinburgh, Scotland

Bridges plays the same character as always, but fits nicely into this part. Robbins plays a very back stage part for most of the film, the main concentration is on the small minded paranoia of Bridges. Brilliant film which brings home some harsh, hard truths about American society and security. An interesting storyline, which excels beyond the average Hollywood thriller, the typical guessing game of the goodies and baddies plays a secondary role to the real story. A uniquely intelligent terrorist thriller from Hollywood. Don't miss it.

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18 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
Effective Low-Key Thriller, 28 November 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Maybe because I expected some heavy-handed Liberal bias in here with Tim Robbins, I was pleasantly surprised. Oh, it was there but on the mild side.

What I found, basically, was an interesting thriller with good suspense and good clever twists at the end. It was nicely filmed, too, and I liked the lower-key atmosphere in here.

Another pleasant surprise was Joan Cusack, who was very effective as Robbins' creepy wife. If you're paranoid, you should like this story. I owned the DVD and traded it, but would like to see it again. It's worth several looks if you wait long enough to forget some of those twists.

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10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Dare you to sleep through this one, 2 June 2000

Author: rps-2 from Bracebridge Ont

This is a nifty suspense story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I was craving some ice cream as we watched it but couldn't tear myself away until it was over. (And I love ice cream!) And the ending is, well, intriguing. It got a little silly in spots but overall it's a dandy nail biter with solid acting, great direction, creative camera work and a taut script. I gave it an 8.

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20 out of 34 people found the following review useful:
If you like plotholes, watch this movie, otherwise: skip it!, 28 March 2004

Author: Tet-5 from Nuenen, the Netherlands

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is an awful movie. I have never seen so many plotholes in a movie that takes itself seriously. I hardly ever say that a movie was a waste of my time, but this time there is nothing else I can do: Arlington Road is a complete waste of anyones time!!

SPOILERS: It's the intention of Oliver Lang, that Michael Farraday will go to the pay phone, sees the truck, realizes that this truck has got something to do with his son, follows the truck, DOES NOT GET INTO TROUBLE WITH THE POLICE DURING HIS CHASE (!), sees his son, gets away from his car, goes back to his car, knows where the bombing will take place, IS ABLE TO GET IN THE BUILDING (!)(despite the fact that this is a highly guarded building, and that Farraday doesn't have permission to enter it). Every one of these actions could NOT have been predicted this accurate. And these are just a very few of the many, many unbelievable things in this movie.

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