"Arlington Road" is one helluva movie and I would count it as one of the best thrillers that I have seen until now. The plot-line kept me absolutely hooked to my seat and just as I was thinking about its probable ending, the filmmaker pulled the rug right from under my feet with an incredible twist in the climax.
The story revolves around the character of Michael Faraday (played by Jeff Bridges) who happens to be a college professor of terrorism. He is still smarting from the loss of his wife, he had lost her a few years back to an accident, she used to be an FBI agent who got shot and died in a botched up raid. That unfortunate incident made Michael somewhat paranoid about terrorism and he believes that most terrorist attacks were the handiwork of a group of people and not of some isolated loners.
Well, one day while he was going back home, he sees an injured kid wandering in his colony street. Stopping his car as he runs across to the boy, he finds that his hands were badly wounded. So he races him to the hospital. There he meets the boy's parents and discovers that they were his neighbours across the street - Oliver and Cheryl Lang - who had newly moved in to the area. In no time do Michael and his new girlfriend Brooke grow friendly with the Langs. But one day while they had gone to the Lang's house for dinner, Michael comes across some blueprints that were lying around in the Lang's house, Oliver happens to be an architect. Looking at the blueprints, Michael gets a feeling that the Langs were hiding something and that things weren't what they seemed to be. Unable to calm his suspicious mind, he starts investigating about Lang's background. He suspects that his neighbour might be a terrorist. However his obsessive investigation into the neighbour's activities actually puts the lives of his dear ones in danger.
Well, one day while he was going back home, he sees an injured kid wandering in his colony street. Stopping his car as he runs across to the boy, he finds that his hands were badly wounded. So he races him to the hospital. There he meets the boy's parents and discovers that they were his neighbours across the street - Oliver and Cheryl Lang - who had newly moved in to the area. In no time do Michael and his new girlfriend Brooke grow friendly with the Langs. But one day while they had gone to the Lang's house for dinner, Michael comes across some blueprints that were lying around in the Lang's house, Oliver happens to be an architect. Looking at the blueprints, Michael gets a feeling that the Langs were hiding something and that things weren't what they seemed to be. Unable to calm his suspicious mind, he starts investigating about Lang's background. He suspects that his neighbour might be a terrorist. However his obsessive investigation into the neighbour's activities actually puts the lives of his dear ones in danger.
Though it's a terrific movie but sadly most people found it to be implausible (yes, there were certain moments in the movie when it did look implausible). But actually movie was ahead of its time, it had got released in 1999. Had it come sometime after 9/11, I am sure things would have been a bit different. But it's the strong performances by the actors which have pulled together this movie. Otherwise there were times when I felt like the story was drifting off its path. Jeff Bridges is brilliant throughout and so are Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack who play the characters of Oliver and Cheryl Lang respectively. Director Mark Pellington could have made the movie a bit crisper but never mind, the movie still looks good.
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