"Evil wears a suit"

Title: Meeting Evil
Year: 2012
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Writer: Chris Fisher, Thomas Berger (based on his novel)

Runtime: 89min

Cast: Luke Wilson, Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Bibb, Peyton List, Muse Watson, Tracie Thoms

Produc.: Louisiana Entertainment Screen Services - L.E.S.S, Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA), Stage 6 Films

In Meeting Evil, John (Luke Wilson) is a despondent family man who, after arriving home after being fired, is visited by a stranger named Richie (Samuel L. Jackson) who, although seems to only need help with his car, the truth is that he plans much more than that.

John comes home, depressed and unemployed, wanting to kill his sorrows in a whiskey. As soon as he sees his wife he sends the children to their room before beginning to discuss. This is one of those situations where, against an impotent husband and financial problems, she is unable to smile, instead recriminating him his inability to be functional to the cause. Man and woman discuss a little bit and then Joanie (Leslie Bibb) leaves for a walk with the kids.

Next, John hears the bell and opens the door. What he finds is a color person, dressed like him, but with a black hat, and who prompts him a hand with his car. In John remains the same side as before and he is unable to change it for the good neighbor´s face, even though, at the insistence, he decides to help. The thing is easy. He must push while the other guy tries to turn it on. John sets, then, after the car and begins to pry, but not much because he is just one guy. Despite this, the worst comes from Richie that, who knows if he is maybe waiting for rain to come to try turn it on. A little girl that looks at them from close sees how Richie has suddenly opened the bag, in addition to holding a revolver. Richie, who is also aware of her presence, decides to abort.

The picture that Richie shows to John is of the typical good citizen, polite and discreet, who knows the laws and likes to comply them, that does not interfiere with anybody and does not like to be offended. But it seems that he is easily offended. It is also the image of a man who insists once again, this time inviting him for a drink. That's the least he can do as to thank him.

Without going into too revealing details, Meeting Evil reminds movies like The Orphan (2009) or Evil Angel (1993), both concerning people of false cordiality, which were actually demons, and both also, with almost identical endings.

Unintentionally, John ends up being absorbed by the world of pure madness that inhabits his lunatic traveling companion, who committes atrocities to right and left, without his hostage finding it out or being able to do something about it. Is the difference of personalities, both ends of a same line, what gives the film its most attractiveness with, on the one side a family man scared and unsure, and unable to get rid of this nightmare, and on the other, a man who is not at all sane, who thinks the world belongs to him and that the living beings that inhabit it are just toys for his own use. All this description of characters sounds pretty nice, and could have been better exploited if it had not fallen into old formulas.

Samuel L. Jackson gives us a very well-rounded interpretation as that sort of villains one would never want to come across in a corner. However, there is not one of his criminal movements that has not been already seen. He even pronounce one of those phrases that abound in the psychopaths, which in this case says something like, "God has already done the world an evil place and all I do is clean of clogging." (I put in my own words the concept conveyed by the actor in character).

Also, like in a thousand other films, the hostage´s supposed best friend ends up being a second complication. Frank (Muse Watson) is a police lieutenant who behaves inconsistently, and who, very stubborn, blames John for a slaughter in a service station without bothering to find out if he is not maybe, actually innocent. Something similar is what happens between Joanie and police Latisha Rogers (Tracie Thoms), primarily due to a director/writer miss. In his attempt to write intelligent and non explanatory parliaments, has ended up creating an unnecessary confrontation between the two women, by not allowing Joanie clarify exactly how is her marriage like. The communication problems lead Rogers to reach to conclusions so diverted from the right that feels like hitting her, and hence that Joanie deserveldy insults her. With this, the secondary conflicts we see are very forced and without no reason to be.

Then, there is a a matter between John and a sexy ex-girlfriend or lover, Tammy (Peyton List), which is never very clear. Richie takes this matter to John's house, exposing it to Joanie at dinner, at whom also makes some suggestions about why, indeed, he chose John for his ordeal. The problem is that all this remains unfinished, and where one could think that we would see some revelation or twist, nothing happens at all. Only, that we see to increase the level of tension and anxiety in a troubled marriage, when neither party knows what to believe about the other.

Ultimately, the film ends without any novelty, where the resolution is visible and not very promising, from very early.

My rating: 6/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí