Miedo

The story behind the film "Fear" is nothing new. Obsessive love leading to dangerous fatal attraction. But I'm not ashamed to say that I really enjoyed watching this movie. To be sure, there were the typical cliches (did anyone not know that the security guard was SO dead!). However, the action in the film keeps things moving along at a steady pace, and the tension builds towards the reasonably satisfying climax. Performances by the lead characters were generally quite good. I found Mark Wahlbergs character to be quite convincing and quite menacing, though I agree he would certainly benefit from some speech coaching. The two young female leads, Reese Witherspoon and Alyssa Milano, did a good job playing the victims, and certainly add value to the film for their attractiveness alone. The standout performance for me was that of William L. Petersen as the father. Most of his actions/reactions rang true to me. Was "Fear" a great movie? Not really. Was it a good, satisfying and ultimately entertaining way to spend 97 minutes? Yes indeed. Even my wife stayed awake till the end, and that's worth an 8/10 alone.

I have titled this review 'Revisited' as I have seen this movie before, a long while ago, but I have still seen it before. It really is a little gem of a film. The storyline is good, the acting is good and even the 'thriller' aspect of the film makes you feel a bit freaked out. There is a romance aspect, but its not too mushy.

Excellent acting from both Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon. Both so young in this film, and also still acting today. I could easily say that Fear features possibly one of the best performances from the pair of them. Wahlberg's ability to play a psychopath so easily, and convincingly is amazing. Witherspoon's naivety as a sixteen year old girl, was also incredibly outstanding. Both Wahlberg and Witherspoon are household names now, that almost everyone had heard of, yet in this film they were both new and unknown. Excellent way to pave a career guys.

Reese Witherspoon appeared in two "guilty pleasure" flicks in 1996--Fear and Freeway. She's quite the commodity now but in the early to mid 90s, her choices were a little more interesting (The Man in the Moon is one of the few movies of the past fifteen years to make me choke up). Fear, on the other hand, is big budget exploitation, and it held my attention, even though I was too embarrassed to admit it at the time. Heck, even the tag line ("together forever...or else!") was cheap. The movie is basically Romeo and Juliet for the MTV crowd, but by the end it becomes a slick '90s version of "Straw Dogs." But the cast (including William Peterson, Amy Brenneman and, as one of the meanest characters in '90s film, Mark Wahlberg) does not act like this stuff is beneath them. And the finale, in Peterson's high tech house, was engrossing. No expectations going into this (which I recommend), but really not too bad, when all is said and done.

This is a perfect movie for people who enjoy suspense, but don't mind if the film is not entirely intellectual or whatever. Mark Wahlberg is great to look at (so is Reese Witherspoon for the guys) and the story - though done before - is very engaging and watchable. The chemistry between David and Nicole before he goes wacko is great, too. I recommend this as a good film to rent for a "night with the girls" or if you are just in the mood for a thriller with real good looking people. Plus, Fox seems to put this movie on TV twice a year, as it was just on last night, and was on in August of '99. ENJOY!!

Over the years I've caught bits and pieces of this film many times on cable and even premium movie channels. Just finally I decided to sit down and watch it all and I must say overall "Fear" is a pretty decent mind thriller. It's theme fits well with teenage love obsession and the stalker crisis. And the cast here is well known it features some of the early work for most of them before they would go on to TV fame(Brenneman, Milano, and Petersen) and movie stardom(Wahlberg and Witherspoon). Set in Seattle, Washington a teenage girl the innocent and pretty Nicole(in one of Reese's earliest roles)lives with her father Steve(William Petersen)and stepmother Laura(Amy Brenneman)and Nicole has a good loving family life yet her parents are to overprotective and she starts to give into the pressure of her peers especially from her best friend the free spirited and sleazy Margo(the hot Alyssa Milano). It's upon their partying and club going that Nicole meets a young and innocent and nice talking young man named David(Mark Wahlberg). Yet appearances and personalities can be deceiving as after David seduces Nicole and she loses her innocence and develops a false trust surely enough David begins a violent obsession with her. Her family sees it and warns her, eventually this leads to drama all concluding with violence and a hostage situation with Nicole's family that was brought on by David and his thug friends. Yet in the end Nicole will grow to learn love is blind as she faces her fear. Pretty decent thriller of the stalker mode with some early performances from what would later be big stars in both TV and film. So give it a watch some late night on cable or premium TV.