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27 out of 36 people found the following review useful: 'Good' movie!, 16 July 2001 Author: jellyneckr
I saw THE GOOD SON on television a while ago and since then I have rented several times. It seems each time it gets more and more thrilling. It's the first movie I've seen where I was actually scared of the bad character, Henry [Macaulay Culkin] and the first movie I've seen where I find myself routing for the good character, Mark [Elijah Wood]. See, normally I don't get too involved in the movies I'm watching, but with THE GOOD SON, it's impossible not to! This is one of Macaulay Culkin's best movies [and one of his last movies].
34 out of 53 people found the following review useful: 5.6 / 10 doesn't justify hood good this movie really is., 7 July 2004 Author: nadir_k04 from Sydney, Australia
If you search for movies with similar rating on www.imdb.com a movie like Johnny English also has 5.6 / 10 & that is a pretty lame movie, where as this should have something like 7 or 7.5 outta 10. Most of the reviews are all good here, I bet most of the people that have voted here just gave it a bad rating because they either hate Macaulay Culkin or Elijah Wood, their both fine actors. I remember the first time i watched this movie was back in 1995 or something like that when i was about 12 or 13, that was the first time i saw Elijah Wood in a movie & i said to myself that this guys gonna be famous when he grows up. Macaulay Culkin's brilliant psychotic acting in this movie was totally brilliant. Both of these 2 young actors made this movie work, the bridge scene is totally awesome. My mum doesn't really like the ending of the movie, & im sure a lot of other mums won't as well. A great Drama / Thriller, better than most thriller movies of the decade i give this a 9.5 / 10.
21 out of 28 people found the following review useful: A REAL CLIFF HANGER OF A FLICK !!, 22 April 2004 Author: whpratt1 from United States
This film kept my eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end. Macaulay Culkin,(Henry Evans),"Party Monsters",'03, gave one of his best performances and really showed his great talents which made you hate him through out the entire picture. Henry had to share his home with a young boy who had recently lost his mother and was in deep depression, he was the son of David Morse,(Jack),"Hack",TV Series, 02, who had to leave him with his brothers family. All hell breaks loose after the two young boys get to know each other. If you viewed the film the "Bad Seed", you will have some idea what the story is about. It is a real nail biting film and makes you crazy trying to figure out just how the story will END! If you love Macaulay Culkin, this is his best FILM !
17 out of 23 people found the following review useful: Good. Dark. Realistic., 20 July 2003 Author: Drew from ARKANSAS
This is one of my favorite movies. Macaulay Culkin was excellent in this. The Good Son is about Mark(Elijah Wood), a young boy suffering in the recent loss of his mother, going to visit his aunt, uncle, and two cousins in Maine while his dad takes a business trip to Tokyo. Cousin Henry Evans(Macaulay Culkin) is Mark's age and they soon become good friends and have loads of fun each day, but soon Mark starts to see another side of Henry when they start putting some of Henry's ideas into action, including throwing a dummy called Mr.Highway over an overpass that causes a huge multi car wreck and a big smile on Henry's face, and shooting a dog with a homemade gun. Mark starts to think Henry deliberatly tried to kill his liitle brother years ago, and is plotting to kill the rest of the family. This movie is a bit disturbing, but good all the same.Rated R for Violence and Language.
10 out of 12 people found the following review useful: A good sign, 23 July 1999 Author: Spleen from Canberra, Australia
In many ways this is just a standard thriller. How I loathe the word "thriller". It suggests roller-coasters; and the genre it denotes, at its best, deals in quiet tension. Where was I? Yes: standard thriller. A is really an evil person, intent on performing great harm in the future; B knows this but can't convince anyone else. I heard that sigh. But make A and B children, on the verge of adolescence, and not only is this tired formula invigorated, but it makes a great deal more sense. (Especially if B is in the slightly awkward position of a cousin on an extended visit.) The creaky old scenes where B goes to the police and either he is strangely incoherent or the police are strangely obtuse, are gone. There is now a perfectly good reason why B can't go to the police, or indeed anyone. Nor is there anything strange about the obtuseness of A's parents. The rotten adult seems so commonplace that we scarcely bat an eyelid; the rotten child, who is in fact far more commonplace, we like to pretend doesn't exist.So I'm glad Hollywood took this step. I also, for the most part, like the way the step has been taken. B has no accomplices - he must battle A alone - and his plight is keenly felt. There's an air of plausibility about it all. Elijah Wood is an unusually good boy, Macaulay Culkin is an unusually bad boy; both look perfectly real. (Wood, who has the harder task, does especially well.)The climax - or what is meant to be the climax - is HIGHLY contrived. It will probably come as a shock that the writers chose something at once so obvious and so ludicrous. The mood of the audience I saw this with - it may just have been my mood - was one of grudging acceptance, granted only because we had been treated so well in the events leading up to it.
7 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Surprisingly enjoyable! A few spoilers, 26 January 2004 Author: Bon_Jovi_chick from Manchester England
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
To be honest, I did not know what to think when I saw this film. Overall, its not my favourite film, its still watchable. Mark (Elijah Wood) has just lost his mum to cancer and is sent off to his cousin Henry (Macaulay Culkin) to help. However, Mark learns that Henry is twisted and evil, whilst his mum and dad reckon he's a good boy.Although Henry is twisted and evil, Culkin shows another side to him which shows that he wants attention. After killing his younger brother Richard and attempting to kill his sister, I can only lead to one conclusion: that Henry was once the oldest and had all the attention and became jealous when his brother and sister were born. And then Mark comes along and Henry feels threatened with his mother comforting another boy. A very different role from the "Home Alone" series and surprisingly brilliantly done!Elijah Wood is brilliant as Mark who feels guilty for not being able to save his mother from cancer. At the same time as grieving, he has to protect Henry's sister from Henry and also try and convince Henry's parents that Henry is not as good as they like to think.What I did not like about the film is the ending: to have a mother given a choice on which child should fall........ its a bit sick.Also, the film was too short. It would have been interesting to actually see how Richard died and also see what made Henry become evil. That part can only be theorised- it should have been put on screen!8/10!!!
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Bad boy, 22 June 2006 Author: jotix100 from New York
Henry, the angelic looking boy, lives with his parents in a beautiful suburban East coast home. His cousin Mark, from Arizona, who has just lost his mother, is invited to come and spend some time with his uncle's Wallace family. What Mark doesn't know is he is leaving one difficult situation back home, but he is not coming to a happy environment. Henry's little brother has died drowned in his bathtub, and Susan, his mother is still grieving his death.When a series of little accidents begin to happen, Mark is blamed for them. After all, Henry, who looks as though he can't do any harm, will never be thought as the culprit. It's Susan, the mother, who discovers the truth after going to Henry's shed where he keeps most of his secrets.Although the film is predictable, director Joseph Ruben has given it a look that keeps the viewer interested in what's happening. The screen play is by Ian McEwan, an excellent writer.Macauley Culkin was at the height of his early film career and he makes a great Henry Evans. Elijah Wood is seen as Mark, the visiting cousin who is horrified by what he finds in his new home. Wendy Crewson plays Susan, the grieving mother. David Morse, a wonderful actor, doesn't have much to do as Mark's father.Watch the film without any expectations and it will reward you.
5 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Some excellent bits, 11 January 2002 Author: Stephen Hitchings from Sydney, Australia
An interesting idea: parents having to deal with a psychopathic child. Believe it or not, such a situation is not uncommon. And Culkin does an excellent job. His coolness, his sudden changes of approach without any apparent shifting of gears, his complete lack of emotional reaction - which have been interpreted by some reviewers as poor acting - are actually very realistic. Personally, I find his calm and apparently effortless demeanour more frightening than the ravings of the lunatics in many other horror films.Unfortunately, the plot lacks all credibility. Certainly psychopaths are excellent con-men (in fact, they are the most typical con-men) but it is absurd to believe that a child like this could have covered his tracks so well that his parents do not even suspect that there is something wrong with him. Even more ridiculous is that his behaviour towards his little sister - whom he hates enough to try to kill her - has been so good in the past that she trusts him completely. The cliches of the over-dramatic ending are also a bit much. A pity, because there is much of value in the film.
7 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Scary, 6 July 2003 Author: LeThAlWeApOn389
This movie was a pretty freaky movie. I mean, I doubt anyone was in that type of situation. But let me tell you, this was the best acting I've seen from a kid besides Haley Joel Osment in the Sixth Sense. It was really scary. I really enjoyed watching this movie and I think it is a classic horror film.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: A Nasty and Disturbing Film., 4 May 2008 Author: tonymurphylee from USA
Macaulay Culkin plays a boy named Henry who is a very disturbed child and secretly a murderer. Elijah Wood plays his little cousin who has found this out and tries to stop him while all of the adults are against him. This film really bothered me. I could never imagine myself being put into such a harrowing situation. The fact that the killer is such a nasty and horrible kid really adds to how horrible it is that nobody believes it when he's told that he's a murderer. What bothers me the most about the film, however, is not the plot and the situations that the characters put themselves in. It is the way the very movie ends. It involves a child being dropped off of a cliff. I will not say which of the two kids dies, nor will I bother to describe the series of events leading up to it. However, the decision involved in the murdering of the child and who has to do it just really freaks me out. I really don't know how on earth I would be able to live with myself if I were a parent and had to go through with what happens at the climax of the film. What bothers me even more about the ending is that, after the child is killed, the music, the tone, and the reactions are totally inappropriate and over-the-top to the situation. I don't think a film has left such a horrible taste in my mouth since MYSTIC RIVER. The climax made me angry and frightened. It left me so angry and frightened that I have a hard time recommending the film to anybody because I don't think even my worst enemies deserve to feel such a bad feeling after a film. It's well made, but ultimately just plain nasty.
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