By Melissa Antoinette Garza
I had never heard of this film prior to watching an online video of a midnight screening with Brad Jones where he reviewed the film. It sounded very interesting and so I decided to seek it out.
Going in I had pretty high expectations. First, I absolutely adore Channing Tatum and Jude Law. I am a woman after all and that eye-candy is something that can keep me occupied during any of the slow moments within the movie; and there are slow moments.
The movie opens with Martin Taylor (Channing Tatum) being released from jail. He had been convicted of insider trading. His loving wife Emily (Rooney Mara) doesn’t deal with his release well. She decides to go to a doctor for treatment of depression.
Dr. Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) begins prescribing her medication. Zoloft and Paxil are attempted without any change in her behavior. She is then placed on a new medication called Ablixa.
She begins to change back to her old self. Much to Taylor’s delight, she is intimate with him. Later that night, she walks around her apartment with the radio blasting. Taylor wakes up to see what’s going on and Emily ends up stabbing him.
She claims that it is due to the Ablixa and was a side-effect as she was sleep walking. She denies remembering the incident and ends up in pleading guilty by reason of insanity. Dr. Banks and Emily’s previous Dr. Victoria Siebert (Catherine-Zeta Jones) assist with the case to ensure Emily doesn’t serve jail time.
After the case, Dr. Bank’s practice fails. He begins looking into the case and discovers that Emily along with Dr. Siebert were in cahoots to murder Taylor for money.
Despite his wife and the police telling him to stop focusing on the case, he delves himself completely in to seek justice for not only Taylor but himself as well.
This is a well-paced film where the latter half is significantly better than the first half. As Brad Jones pointed out, the first half hour really seems as though it is against psychiatry and psychiatric drugs. As the film progresses, the viewer finds out that it is quite a different movie.
I highly recommend this thriller. I think it’s an intelligent and thought provoking film.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7/10
