Respond to these rapid questions in our The Intruder quiz and we will tell you which The Intruder character you are. Play it now.
A new home invasion thriller, “The Intruder,” is a throwback to classics such as “Pacific Heights” and the more recent “Breaking In.” Given the film’s brief running time of 84 minutes, you’d expect it to move quickly enough to make you forget about its massive lapses of logic in favor of chills and thrills. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. It takes an inordinate amount of time to get to what would be considered “the good parts” in a better film, much like director Deon Taylor’s previous abomination, “Traffik.” In addition, despite the numerous jump scares, it is completely devoid of suspense. And, to make matters worse, not only does its heroine engage in mind-numbingly stupid behavior, but this film is also so retro that she must be rescued by her husband.
That husband is Scott Russell (Michael Ealy), a successful San Francisco marketing guru who is so madly in love with his wife Annie (Meagan Good) that he is willing to buy a $3 million house in Napa Valley that he doesn’t really want to live in just to please her. The film follows Scott and Annie as they navigate their marriage. When Charlie Peck (Dennis Quaid), the widowed homeowner selling Annie’s dream home, says, “When Mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.” It involves him suddenly leaping out of the woods with his rifle and tearing a deer to pieces right in front of the Russells’ eyes. This is his Meet Cute with the Russells. It isn’t enough for him to simply shoot the deer; he runs up to its wounded body and brutally plugs it in the head at close range.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on this point. We, the audience, are well aware that Charlie is nothing but trouble; after all, he is the star of the show. And we all know that it usually takes the protagonists a long time to figure out that he’s the bad guy because nothing appears to be wrong with them at first. However, it is immediately apparent that something is wrong with Charlie, but Annie is so single-mindedly devoted to this house that she doesn’t seem to notice. Regardless of how well-heeled you are, if you’re looking at a house and some White dude jumps out of the woods with a rifle and shoots Bambi 10 feet away from you, your Black ass is marching right back to Coldwell Banker to find another listing. Regardless, the Russells purchase the house.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this The Intruder quiz.
Charlie informs Anne that the name of their new home is derived from a flower known as Foxglove. “Doesn’t that look like it’s poisonous?” Annie is the one who inquires. ‘Very,’ Charlie says in what appears to be foreshadowing, but which is actually one of many extraneous details found in David Loughery’s derivative script. This is nothing new for Loughery, who has previously worked on similar scripts for Beyonce’s “Obsessed” and Samuel L. Jackson’s “Lakeview Terrace,” among other projects. Even though neither of those films was particularly good, it was a lot of fun to watch them both. The fun factor of this film is closer to that of Loughery’s script for “Star Trek V,” which was the least watchable installment in the franchise.
The Intruder Quiz
Scott is still wary of Charlie, but Annie is completely clueless for the majority of the film, which will make you want to scream. This was actually done by the woman sitting two seats away from me during Annie’s most ridiculous scene, during which she described her with a slew of colorful expletives before walking out of the theater. Unfortunately, I was compelled to remain because I was as committed to this review as Charlie was to Foxglove. He was unable to leave his beloved home after it had been sold. In fact, he keeps showing up to do things like mow the lawn, spy on the new tenants, and yell at Scott whenever he tries to make changes to the house he now owns, all of which are against the law.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Intruder quiz.
What does Annie do in the face of all of this? She invites Charlie to Scott’s best friend, Mike Renfro (Joseph Sikora), for Thanksgiving dinner, where he insults Charlie before tossing his cigarette out on the lawn. Mike’s luxury car has a cigarette burn in the driver’s seat the next day. Mike is furious. After jumping on the “Charlie be cray” bandwagon with Scott and the rest of the gang, Mike makes the mistake of checking in on Annie at the most inconvenient of times, as all best friends in these movies are prone to doing.
About the quiz
Charlie’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, and he even begins to show up unannounced inside the house. When this occurs, Scott demands that Annie cease all communication with him. So, for the love of God, she continues to allow the man into her home on her own accord. This completely negates any possibility of suspension of disbelief. The decision by the filmmakers to cast the wrong Quaid brother has only contributed to the devastation. Dennis Quaid is an excellent actor, but he does not make for a convincing psychopath. The actor fails to convince, even in the most offensive scenes of attempted rape that he appears in. He’s just not that good. It appears that the editing is so bad during the film’s climactic showdown that the stuntmen are being hidden rather than satisfying the viewer’s desire to see Charlie get his comeuppance.
Also, you must try to play this The Intruder quiz.
It’s hard to imagine a single unpredictable moment in “The Intruder,” which would be fine if the film had been made and cast with competence. It is neither one nor the other. Despite the fact that their sex scene is set to R&B music, Ealy and Good have no chemistry. Interestingly, they’re even better in scenes where they’re sniping at each other. After Annie has been degraded by Taylor, who appears to have a penchant for filming scenes of sexual assault in his films, you really hope Annie will take the initiative and save the day when they finally band together to save each other. Instead, the film ends on a sour note, with Scott’s PTSD-driven fear of guns being portrayed as heroism by virtue of his refusal to use a gun. What made Annie think she couldn’t be the one to save him?
With regard to the “why” question, it baffled me that, while I was permitted to witness axe murders, bloody beatings, gunshots, and women in danger, I was not permitted to hear the F-words in the rap song that closes “The Intruder.” The answer is that this film is rated PG-13 and already contains one instance of the F-word, which occurs during the film’s big “stand up and cheer” scene. Hearing a few F-words was apparently far worse for teenagers than witnessing a guy take an ax to the chest like Scatman Crothers in “The Shining,” or seeing a half-naked woman hogtied against her will on a bed, according to a recent study. Instead of watching this movie, spend some time thinking about that hypocrisy.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Mule Quiz.
