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.

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'.

Dr. Martin Blake (Orlando Bloom) is six days into his residency and out to make a good impression. Unfortunately, after an incident involving a patient's missed allergy and antibiotics, Blake seems a bit questionable to his superiors.

In addition, Blake becomes obsessed with a former female patient (Riley Keough). So much so as to go to extremely unethical, even dangerously illegal lengths to get her back in the hospital. We soon see just what THE GOOD DOCTOR is really capable of doing to get what he wants.

Bloom is wonderfully low-key in his sinister role. His character is a malevolent force, so utterly selfish as to be oblivious to just how despicable his actions truly are. He's ruthless in a laid-back way that's far more effective than if he'd played it as some overt madman.

In the end, the damage he causes is for "love" and self-preservation...

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.

The trailer to this movie made me think it was going to be something else entirely. I admit I was intrigued for the most part but also pretty anxious/uncomfortable due to his poor decisions throughout the whole movie. With an ending like that, I wouldn't say this is the worst movie, but not one that will be remembered either.