Customer Reviews

Shadow of Fear

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SHADOW OF FEAR has all the markings of one of those scary French suspense films - evil begets evil in a centrifuge of action and mind manipulation. For first time writers and director this is an interesting concept that unfortunately ends with a too pat resolution.

After opening credits play over moody and very well photographed shoes walking on a rainy pavement bleeding into a hand held glass of liquor, we are plunged into an event of a hit and run by one Harrison French (Matthew Davis) only to discover that this youngest member of a secret society of wealthy men controlled by William Ashbury (James Spader) at first tries to keep his murderous event to himself without involving his wife Wynn (Robin Tunney) or his associates. French deals in real estate and is on the verge of bankruptcy and is dependent on his father-in-law Congressman (Peter Coyote) who strangely warns him to move away from the present environs.

Events develop: French's dope addict brother-in-law is killed after being involved in a bank heist (is this the man French murdered by hit and run?), French is arrested by Detective (Aidan Quinn) who seems to have all of the information about the interweaving scandalous events captured on film but one of French's associates in the society (an associate on the brink of being discovered as womanizer and adulterer), and the very cool and omniscient William Ashbury consistently intervenes to correct each of the evil doings of the secret society - for a price. Money can apparently change all truths and the entire secret society is implicated in some way with odious misdeeds covered up by the evil manipulations of Ashbury.

How all of these interwoven missteps are resolved is left to the very end of the film and therein lies the film's weakness. Too many loose threads are flimsily tied together by a few pertinent deaths and the story simply ends. Up to this point the tension is high and the characters all are well played by a fine cast (especially James Spader), the cinematography is moody and elegant and the musical score heightens the tension and atmosphere. For the first three fourths of this film we are suspended in a bizarre world of shadows and human deceit that could have had much more punch with a better resolved denouement. Still, a good film for a rainy evening suspense addict! Grady Harp, January 2005

At the beginning of this movie we meet Harrison and his wife Wynn. A young couple who seem to be very much in love and are going through the normal growing pains of life. Harrison has been dependent upon his father-in-law to help pay for their home until he becomes stronger in the business. Losing an account one evening he is driving home, quite upset and hits and kills a man. This happening sets into action the entire premise of the movie.
We find out that all the men are involved in a secret organigation, however not by choice. It seems each has done a deed they had to cover up and a very evil man named William found the solutions, however now they would forever be in his debt. Harrison is now in the web, having run from the scene of the accident.However he decides to fight back and get his life and those of the men free from this demonic controlling man.
There are many twists and turns to this movie but I think it really showed that owning up to what we have done is the best route to take. Deception in any form only leads to more heartache and control by forces we do not want to take over. This movie had a good ending, but you wonder how many times in life that people have put themselves in these situations that it did not. I believe you would enjoy viewing this movie, it has some good moments and is quite thought provoking.

This is one of those twisted movies that you have to watch more than once to see things you didn't see the first time. I truly liked this movie.

While starting out with an interesting premise and maintaining its ominous, what is he going to do mood, SHADOW OF FEAR loses this edge when it brings out an ambiguous ending that leaves the viewer wondering where the movie has taken you. Matt Davis (Below) plays an up and coming real estate fellow who loses a big account. On the way home from a meeting with a group of high powered men, he hits a pedestrian and panicking, he hides the body. Davis does a good job in his role, lending his innocent physical appearance and his overwhelming sense of helplessness to the film's foundation. Robin Tunney as his wife also does well. Davis does find himself in deep doodoo though when James Spader's malevolent William Ashbury offers to help him "cover up" his deed. Seems like Ashbury has done this before for the other gentlemen in their Tuesdy night club. Spader underplays his character nicely, but never lets up on his simmering evil. Aidan Quinn plays a detective with his own checkered past, and the gentlemen in the club include notable character actors Peter Coyote and David Selby. I wanted to like this movie a lot more, but its ambiguity in the finale left me unsatisfied.

I just caught this on television and wanted to recommend it as well.

This is one of those movies that once I started it, I was so challenged and captivated by it I couldn't "put it down". What's great about this film is that it puts you in the position of the main character, who is caught in a web he can't quite understand and you have to figure it out along with him. All the pieces fell into place for me at exactly the right time so it was a total winner.

If you're looking for brainless entertainment where everything is explained Dick-and-Jane style as you go along, there are thousands of other films out there you'll like better. I found this gripping and rewarding.

Also good words for the performers in this film -this is a movie that depends on real acting -not on CGI, exploding cars, or impossible acrobatics. Matt Davis pulls off a really difficult role -the entire film hangs on the expressions on this guys face, and on the other main characters as well They're all worth watching.

A top notch drama/myster/thriller if that's what you're looking for.

This was a very good film.
It's a case study in greed, guilt,
exploitation, redemption, and self-
preservation. Honestly, it took me
a while to fully catch on to
Mr. Ashbury's scheme because we get
a lot of insinuation, but not much
dialogue about what's going on. Finally,
in maybe the last ten minutes or so
of the film, everything is unleashed
at once and you're left to process all
the information that would have been
common knowledge in a real life situation.
The plot is mildy far fetched and once all the
dots were connected, I was still left thinking,
"Um, what the hell....?"

Anyway, I like and recommend the movie, mostly because of Mr.
Ashbury's smooth, cold demeanor. Did anyone
else think that Matt Davis came across as a
crybaby in this film?

Sounded like a good story - i suppose it could have been if the characters had acted like most normal people and discussed what was happening to them to their friends and loved ones - but once again the hero of the piece , in this case Harrison French (Matt Davis) decides to do what nobody in real life woud do - go it alone against the odds . Interesting how a corpse laying in the woods for at least 3 days looks so good - just one of my gripes i suppose . The only endearing feature of this movie was the fact the a very good actors like Matt Davis & Jmes Spader were in the movie - take away the eye candy and you don't have much left - rent it - don't buy it !
Oh - yeah - what a small town they must have lived in - so many coincidences and chance meetings - maybe that was to make the story more believable - who knows !

A couple other reviewers infinitely smarter than me attempted to concisely capture this movie's plot. Unsuccessfully though, as there were richer layers upon layers in the movie that made you think. The "fixer" and real main/central character William Ashbury (James Spader) was quite interesting throwing out red herrings, twists and turns along the way.

I found two women in the movie, the main character Harrison French's wife Wynn (Robin Tunney) as well as Wynn's sister Allison (Lacey Chabert) quite cute to look at.

One red herring thrown out was at one point, I almost thought that not only did Harrison kill his brother-in-law Chris (unknown Andrew Harris) but that Harrison was Chris' partner in the bank robbery. Am I alone there in thinking that? That was one of the many red herrings for herring lovers that this movie spewed at you in rapid-fire sequence.

I found turning the tables on good bad guy William Ashbury WAS quite rewarding and a good finish, and enjoyed the Spokane, Washington locale of the movie (although it evidently rains too much there).

I played a guessing game as to where the movie was filmed as it had this American-movie-filmed-in-Canada feeling to it for most of the movie.

Not any kind of major theatrical release by anyone's standards, but worth it if you want to be challenged by a rich not-straight ahead plot.

Ok, James Spader has another role as a dirtbag - but let's be honest, he is good at being a dirtbag.
I liked the idea of "collecting" criminals and punishing them through each other - lots of interesting material in this movie for law and security professionals.