“On the Inside”
Year: 2012
Director: D.W. Brown
Stars: Nick Stahl, Olivia Wilde, Dash Milhok
Studio: Anchor Bay Films
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 90 Mins
“On the Inside” is executive produced by Jamie Kennedy. Yes that Jamie Kennedy, from “Scream” and Malibu’s Most Wanted”.
The film follows a troubled college professor (Nick Stahl), who ends up being sentenced to psychiatric hospital after a revenge killing goes wrong. There, he is entered into an experiment socialization program. In the program, he meets a beautiful woman (Olivia Wilde), who harbors a dark secret and a volatile psychopath (Dash Mihok) with a deadly history. Can two damaged soul find love and redemption in a place of despair? Pruitt Taylor Vince (The Walking Dead) Shohren Aghdashloo (24) and Tariq Trotter (aka Black Thought of The Roots)
I hate it, when you think you’re going to be in good movie and then you have a very bad third act to ruin it for you. That was the case with “On the Inside”.
First, let me talk about the positive things about this film. Writer/director D.W. Brown did a very decent job with the directing. One of things that I liked about, he does a very good job getting his cast to make the material interesting. I thought the performances were very good, especially from Nick Stale and Olivia Wilde. They made their characters work up until the third act, where it wasn’t their fault as this turns into a completely different movie. The other thing I enjoy about it, the way that the film’s dark tone was consistent throughout the film and the screenplay. I liked how, he makes the situations very dark. It helps the development of the main character’s state of mind. But all of that was erased with the third act.
The main reason that this film was very disappointing was with the whole subplot with the psychotic inmate. It ruined all the goodwill that this film had, as I was enjoying this film up until that point. To me, it all of a sudden became the main focus of the film. I was quite upset with the whole subplot, because it was taking away from the focus of the main character’s state of mind and his relationship with the girl. Also, the third act felt like it went 360 and turned into a mini slasher film with the psychotic inmate leaving a trail of victims on his way to the main characters. That’s what made very upset with this film, as it killed the focus of the film’s main relationship. It’s okay to have the riot in the hospital and have him makes his way there, but having a supporting character go on a killing spree. It killed the flow of the relationship that I was invested in and it ultimately it kills this film for me. It’s very hard for a subplot to ruin a film for me, but this did it.
This is first time in a while, where I’ve experienced this outrage over a subplot. I would have to go back to an independent film called “Rocket Science”, which was released. I felt so outraged with a third act of a film, where it took a dump on its main character. I was enjoying that film, until the screenplay decided to degrade its main character and leave you feeling very sad that the filmmakers chose to humiliate the character to end the film. There was no degrading of the characters here, but the film here does a 360 that leaves you baffled and angry to what film you were just watching.
“On the Inside” is a film that had promise, but a bad third act sends the film off course.
Review Rating: Two Stars
