After having read the novel Different Seasons by Stephen King,(which also had the stories for Stand by me and Shawshank)I have to say that i found Apt Pupil the most enjoyable and interesting in the book.I feel the film is very good,but with a few flaws.The plot:A local boy Todd Boweden(Brad"The Jacket"Renfro),who is doing his high-school exams finds out that a man who lives on his block(Kurt Dussander)is a Nazi war criminal.Who is living in America under the name Arther Denker.Instead of turning Dussander(Ian"The X-Men,Lord of the Rings,The Da Vinci Code"McKellen) into the police.Todd decides to go round to Dussanders house and talk to him!.Because Todd has been studying World War II history at school,and he wants to find out "what they don't talk about in library books".He does this by getting Dussander to tell him how he felt being in voled in The Holocaust.Things get even darker,when Dussander kills someone.And Todd has to cover up the murder for him. View on the film:
The cast.First of all i have to say that for Brad Renfro being 16 at the time,he gives a really great performance as Tood Bowden,who you feel turn from a nice "innceent" kid.Into someone who will do anything to get his way.Ian McKellen gives another great performance as Dussander,who you can believe actually did those horrific things.The main down side is the supporting cast,who try to make there roles different then most "TV soaps",but (for me) they sadly come off as 2D-charitrics. The Screenplay.written by Brandon Boyce who due to the subject matter the film/short story is about.So the main thing you get is a very strong outline of the story.the only problem is that this makes the relationships and people in the fill not as realistic as you would want them to be.Thought i have to say that i feel the ending was a better idea then in the short story (Todd dies).The Direction:Director Bryan Singer,you can see start some of the main themas that he carried on with The X-Men films.(Young people having to decide "what side" they want to be on as they enter there adult life.)Singer does a very good job with the dark Nazi imagery (something he built upon with the first X-Men film.)While he does a good job at trying to show whats behind white picket fences. Final view on the film: An above-average film based on a great short story,with another great performance by McKellen.
The cast.First of all i have to say that for Brad Renfro being 16 at the time,he gives a really great performance as Tood Bowden,who you feel turn from a nice "innceent" kid.Into someone who will do anything to get his way.Ian McKellen gives another great performance as Dussander,who you can believe actually did those horrific things.The main down side is the supporting cast,who try to make there roles different then most "TV soaps",but (for me) they sadly come off as 2D-charitrics. The Screenplay.written by Brandon Boyce who due to the subject matter the film/short story is about.So the main thing you get is a very strong outline of the story.the only problem is that this makes the relationships and people in the fill not as realistic as you would want them to be.Thought i have to say that i feel the ending was a better idea then in the short story (Todd dies).The Direction:Director Bryan Singer,you can see start some of the main themas that he carried on with The X-Men films.(Young people having to decide "what side" they want to be on as they enter there adult life.)Singer does a very good job with the dark Nazi imagery (something he built upon with the first X-Men film.)While he does a good job at trying to show whats behind white picket fences. Final view on the film: An above-average film based on a great short story,with another great performance by McKellen.