It's "Home Alone" meets "Misery" meets "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle." It's "The Good Son," and it's a slick thriller as entertaining as any of them.
Macaulay Culkin, star of the "Home Alone" films, is the No. 1 son -- the kind you get if the wrong hand's been rocking the cradle. Pre-teen Henry Evans (Culkin) is a bad seed, with a killer's cold charm. His angelic looks harbor a heart of darkness. He terrorizes a cat, a dog, his sister (Culkin's younger sister, Quinn, in her movie debut), and may have done worse.
Arriving at the pricey Maine coast home of Henry's family is Mark, 12 (Elijah Wood of "Forever Young"), following his mother's death. Mark's father, Jack Evans (Clintonesque David Morse), leaves Mark with his brother's family, Wallace (Daniel Hugh Kelly) and Susan Evans (Wendy Crewson), while he attempts a lucrative business deal in Japan.
If an idle mind is the devil's workshop, Henry has an entire toolshed of mayhem (accurately reflecting a serial killer's "fantasy room"), including a deadly homemade crossbow that fires bolts like bullets. Henry asserts his authority and control over Mark from the moment they climb his treehouse (perhaps the Western Hemisphere's highest). Henry taunts Mark: "If I let you go, do you think you could fly?" The scene is dizzyingly effective.
Henry soon draws Mark into his sick game. "I feel sorry for you, Mark. You just don't know how to have fun." For Henry, boys just want to have mayhem. Revealing more of the plot would ruin the movie for you.
Director Joseph Ruben builds the tension into a spine-tingling and gripping Hitchcockian climax ("Cliffhanger" fans, take note). If you saw Ruben's "Sleeping With the Enemy" and found it to be a slick psychological thriller, you won't want to miss "The Good Son."
The movie has a crisp, brilliant feel (desert scenes are spectacular; a white birch wood is chilling; snow-covered cliffs appear sugar-coated). Credit director of photography John Lindley. Every scene counts, thanks to editor George Bowers. Elmer Bernstein composed a terrific score.
Macaulay Culkin is extraordinary. If you wondered about Culkin's acting ability in the "Home Alone" movies, this role should remove any doubt. His Henry is the real "Dennis the Menace" (The movie could've been subtitled, "Henry, Portrait of a Cereal Killer.") His cold, cruel eyes and smug satisfaction at wreaking havoc is very believable. Culkin's performance is one of the best by a young actor since Tatum O'Neal's in "Paper Moon," and is equally deserving of an Oscar nomination (Tatum won).
Wood is fine in his role, no small difficulty since his task is mostly reacting to Culkin. Crewson is equally good as the mother.
The introduction of an ineffectual psychiatrist (Jacqueline Brookes), as well as the parents' seeming aloofness, posits "The Good Son" as a morality play (Ian McEwan has written a nearly flawless script).
Are certain people born evil, or does society "make" them that way? "The Good Son" may not provide answers but it does offer some very entertaining questions.
"The Good Son." 3 stars. Rated R. Now playing at General Cinema Lehigh Valley Mall, Eric Easton 6, AMC Quakertown 6, AMC Tilghman 8 and The Movies, Hellertown.
