Arlington Road (1999)

Wow, what an opening! And what an amazing, smart, edge of your seat ending! I really enjoyed the classroom teachings of Faraday, especially the ideas that I call the politics of fear. It's interesting that this movie came out in 1999, but seems very relevant even today. Also gives me pause to think about the phrase "he acted alone". I also enjoyed having Bridges and Robbins in the same movie, as I like both of those actors. Robbins is creepy, but I think Joan Cusack out-creeps him, and her facial expression change at the pay phone is probably gonna wig me out for a while! It's a slow film, but the ending makes it worth the view!

Worst movie I've ever seen! Good atmosphere but the ending was totally a disappointment! Why does this abomination have 7/10 stars? I could write a better scenario than this! It was building tension and in the end the bomb was in the car? Really? REALLY? Was Erchen Krouger high while he was writing it? Don't watch it... You'll just waste 2 hours of your life.

This absorbing conspiracy thriller shows how one man's experiences, grief and academic preoccupations make him fearful, paranoid and emotionally unstable. It begins impressively with a really gripping opening sequence and then, after telling his story, leads to a shocking climax that vindicates his behaviour in the most tragic way possible. The expert pacing of the on-screen action contributes enormously to its tense atmosphere and Angelo Badalamenti's unsettling score complements the mood of the piece perfectly.Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges), a history professor at George Washington University, is driving along a suburban street one day when he sees a 10-year-old boy staggering along in the middle of the road. When he catches up with him, it quickly becomes apparent that the boy is badly burned, bleeding and has a serious arm injury. Michael rushes him to the nearest hospital and after treatment the boy recovers well. His father and mother, Oliver (Tim Robbins) and Cheryl (Joan Cusack) Lang, who live in the same neighbourhood as Michael are extremely grateful and following this incident they, Michael and his girlfriend Brooke (Hope Davis) become friends.Michael's going through a difficult time bringing up his 9-year-old son, being involved in a relatively new relationship and trying to come to terms with the death of his wife, an FBI Agent who'd been killed during an incompetently-handled raid on a location where a large quantity of guns and ammunition were reported to have been stockpiled. When he starts to doubt the veracity of some information that Oliver tells him about his background and realises that his neighbour (who's a structural engineer), lied to him about the nature of a project he's working on, Michael does some research which reveals that Oliver is using a false identity and in his youth, had been arrested for planting a bomb in a government building.Naturally disturbed by his findings, Michael is frustrated by the reactions of Brooke and Agent Whit Carver (Robert Gossett) who was his wife's former partner in the FBI. They both seem to think he's being paranoid and rationalise his findings in different ways. Michael's passionate about the course he teaches on domestic terrorism and often expresses his scepticism about official explanations for acts of terrorism which are typically claimed to be the work of an individual. The more convinced he becomes that his neighbours are involved in something suspicious, the more determined he becomes to thwart their plans and this puts his life and the lives of everyone close to him, in great danger."Arlington Road" is entertaining, thought-provoking and has some interesting plot twists. Its characters are well-drawn and its cast provides some strong performances. Jeff Bridges is very natural in his portrayal of an ordinary man who starts to unravel alarmingly and Tim Robbins is utterly convincing as he combines a façade of suburban respectability with Oliver's more sinister side. Joan Cusack is also brilliantly creepy and provides one of the movie's outstanding moments when, after overhearing a telephone call made by Brooke, makes the very benign word "shopping" sound incredibly chilling.

Arlington Road was a real surprise for me and I did not expect this movie to turn out the way it did. Jeff Bridges is one of the best actors in Hollywood and he has played some really memorable characters in his career. Tim Robbins has always intrigued me as an actor and in this movie also he has given a really fine performance. The movie is pretty relevant as we are living in a world where we can not take anything for granted. There are some important questions and issues raised by this movie that a lot of people need to introspect about. The way things have happened in many countries across the world we can never be sure from where the next enemy may be coming from. For this thing alone I feel Arlington Road is a movie worth watching...