Final

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie
Review: What a nice jewel in the dirt that i've found. Watching late night HBO television and "Final" comes on and simply put, blows me away. Excellent movie, I've always loved everything Denis Leary did but this i would say is some of his best work. Lots of thumbs up to Director/Writer/Producer. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie
Review: What a nice jewel in the dirt that i've found. Watching late night HBO television and "Final" comes on and simply put, blows me away. Excellent movie, I've always loved everything Denis Leary did but this i would say is some of his best work. Lots of thumbs up to Director/Writer/Producer. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Slow start, powerful development
Review: What at first looks to be a relatively standard drama of a patient in a mental institution turns out to be something far removed from that in this intriguing science fiction film. And make no mistake, this IS science fiction. Once the basic premise is revealed, it is crystal clear that what is really going on here challenges the main character and the viewer as well in their moral priorities.

The main character, Tyler, is played by Dennis Leary, who turns in a solid performance as someone whose paranoid fantasies of his current situation, ostensibly in said mental institution, fuse with his memories of a lost love from years before. His doctor is Hope Davis, here proving her versatility as, at first, a removed scientist, then gradually warming to her subject.

The doctor's sister is also a patient, but one confined because of a physical illness, not for reasons of mental deterioration. This is a key element in the puzzle of this film as it unravels, as is the ice-cold director of the institution and the complete geographical isolation of the institution itself.

As Tyler's memories become clearer, he simultaneously moves closer to the doctor emotionally. This very intelligent plot device is critical in the development of the story. The beginning is a bit slow, because of what, as mentioned, appears to be a fairly routine scenario. But stick around; it gets MUCH better.

A really well thought out script and fine acting make this a highly recommended, literate, science fiction film.