OK, from the outset, it was clear that this was a low-budget, indie pic, so I watched with grace to see what the end product would be. The plot is clearly not original--which is OK. The premise and backstory were clear from the outset, although I'm not sure making the adopted child's backstory so blatant in the very beginning hurt or helped. The script was OK, better than the acting. The acting...? Well, this is, as mentioned, an obviously low-budget project, so I won't comment beyond that. The pacing was fine. The direction was...well, everything about a film is ultimately the responsibility of the director. I appreciate the director's commitment to this film. The film's score wasn't bad. Everything mentioned thus far can be forgiven and even appreciated in a way. But the ENDING...many-a-film has been totally destroyed by its ending. And the last two or three minutes of ADOPTED falls into this category. The decision made by a key character at that point was entire moronic and served only to setup the entirely unsatisfactory finish, that's it. It otherwise made no sense whatsoever and insulted the intelligence of the viewer.
Kudos to Jayden Aguirre, who played Dylan. He managed a performance that was truly chilling at some points. Better direction would have helped at point where he didn't deliver.
I have a fondness for low-budget indie films. I watch a lot of them, in fact. ADOPTED, I can gladly say, is not on my list of worst films. And I can truly appreciate the effort behind it.
