The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor (2011)

*** (out of 4)

Orlando Bloom plays Dr. Martin Blake, a man with a good job, a nice car, a fine apartment and he appears to have anything you'd want but he's actually quite lonely. He thinks he finds someone special in a young patient (Riley Keough) who is suffering from a kidney disease but soon the doctor's kindness turns to obsession. THE GOOD DOCTOR has gotten some fairly negative reviews but I think they were a bit unfair. Yes, if you're wanting a film that's going to explain everything to you then it's best to skip this one. In fact, we never really learn why Martin is so lonely, why he can't seem to connect with people and we really don't even get to know why he wants to be a doctor or why he becomes obsessed. This is one of those independent movies that wants to make the viewer do a lot of thinking and while it's not a complete success I still found the story compelling and the performances very good. Bloom was perfect in his role as the doctor and with the haircut and performance style I really couldn't help but think of Anthony Perkins in PSYCHO. The performance here certainly isn't legendary like that one but I found a lot of similarities between the characters. Bloom really does a great job at playing this lonely character and you believe it just by the sadness that his eyes carry. I always say that acting with your eyes can be the hardest thing to do yet Bloom gets so much across here. I also really liked Riley Keough in the role of the patient who forms this special bond with the doctor. The actors have some great chemistry together. Taraji P. Henson is excellent in her role as a nurse who doesn't get along with the doctor and we get nice support from Michael Pena and Rob Morrow. There are parts of the story that certainly don't work but I must admit that the film kept me on the edge of my seat because I was never quite certain where it was going to go or how everything was going to play out. I won't ruin the ending but I think it worked just fine but I'm sure everyone will take something different away from it.

Once you read the plot summation or have viewed the trailer you may think they have shown their hand with this but what unfolds is a much larger picture as the viewer is introduced to DR. Martin Blake. He is new at the hospital having just begun his residency there. Lonely, he seems to be an outsider, never having the girl or the attention he wants most. Until he is introduced to a new patient he will be in charge of named Diane. He & the 18 year old Diane seem to quickly forge a bond, a bond that Martin is determined to keep, thus he meddles with her medication & test results, keeping her there with him at the hospital.

Don't let this fool you by any means, this is just the beginning for Martin, his downward spiral has just begun. I must say that Orlando Bloom did a superb job portraying Martin as a fragile loner desperate for more at any cost. Riley Keough, known for her previous role in The Runaways, also did a fine job as Diane. Overall this did a very good job of building suspense & keeping it going through to the end. My only complaint is that I would have liked it to go a bit further with the story, it seemed to wrap up too quickly & an extra fifteen minutes wouldn't have hurt. Still, it exceeded my expectations & recommend to anyone looking for a well acted solidly written suspenseful story. 8/10

Is it my home theater or the cast really are whispering? I barely heard the words they're saying. So I wasn't quite sure if I get this movie. I checked wiki and suddenly I felt enlightened.

Reading the synopsis makes this movie looks so good. However I didn't really feel that way last night. And I couldn't stand watching Orlando's bangs. So weird because they ruin my Legolas' image. And so with all the doctors and the staffs. They're having too much "fun" at the hospital, giving the negative image to the hospital. Like they're playing around and not serious about their job. Martin's is the only one is good but slowly becoming crazy.

One thing that seems implausible to me about the story. When Mrs. Nixon wants to thank Martin for taking a very good care of her daughter by giving him a present. But she doesn't have time to send it so she invites Martin to her house only to get the present. It's weird. She can deliver it by package service, right? I know why it is made like this because it has something to do with Martin's next move. But please... Give me something more plausible. Is this too much to ask?

The good doctor is a story about what happens if a doctor, at his own discretion and arbitrariness, begins to interfere in the process of treating a patient. An 18-year-old patient with pyelonephritis, an infectious disease of the kidneys, comes to the novice therapist Martin Blake. And what happens is that our doctor begins to feel completely unprofessional feelings for the patient. In order to keep her in the hospital at least a little, he changes drugs and starts a very risky game with an unpredictable result. The famous Orlando Bloom appears here in a rather rare acting role - a maniac and a sociopath. In the supporting roles, it is beautifully set off by Michael Peña and J. K. Simmons. Together with the competent direction of the Irishman Lance Daley, the result was a wonderful psycho-thriller, very, very competently exploiting the fears of the ordinary man in front of modern medicine. Designed for a purely target audience - people who love smart independent films, where you need to speculate a lot yourself and draw your own conclusions based on what you watched. To all that has been said, it remains only to add that the rating of the film is undeservedly underestimated.

This is the sort of thriller film for people who don't like too much horror and gore. It's a good psychological study but the millennial feel is a little light on and waters down the consequences of the Doctor's increasingly erratic behaviour. The most disturbing thing was watching the Doctor's esteem grow amongst his peers with each new disaster - in other words - the boys protecting the boy's club. Orlando was really good in this role - sort of like 'Dr Who'.