Obsession fatale

I consider myself a big film buff, but before I'd seen it recently, I'd never even heard of Unlawful Entry. The story is pretty simple: a couple in love (Kurt Russell and Madeline Stowe) make friends with a cop (Ray Liotta) who turns out to be possessive and to make their lives a living hell (see also: The Cable Guy, which follows the same lines). But, with a simple story, this low-key film deserves recognition for being a clever and original thriller. Throughout the film, you feel all the emotions that Kurt Russell is feeling as his life is slowly taken away from him by the ever-menacing Ray Liotta. In brief, this is a fabulous film, which was under-appreciated and a missed hit.

"Unlawful Entry" kept me on the edge of my seat, or should I say the edge of my bed. Ray Liotta proved with this performance that few actors can play the apparently shy guy with evil tendencies better than him. The movie also presents some good "What if" questions. In the pivotal scene, Liotta grabs the burglar who ran into Kurt Russell's house and put a knife to his wife's throat. In an earlier scene, he explains how he'd beat the living crap out of that burglar if he had the chance. Well, one night Liotta gives Russell the permission (him being a cop) to "beat the living crap out of him" and Russell totally panics and refuses. Meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself, "If Madeline Stowe were my wife and that moron put a knife to her throat, I would've taken that nightstick and beat him to death." But then again, I'm saying that while sitting comfortably on my bed, watching the movie. I'm not in his shoes. I'm sure many people would panic in that situation.

Though the movie kept my eyes glued to the screen, I could've done without certain plot conventions towards the end. I don't have to spoil it for you. You've seen thrillers in the past, you know what I'm talking about. And the writer could've trimmed the use of lines like "Get the f**k out of here," "Stay the f**k out of my house" and "Stay the f**k away from my wife" or "If you touch her, I'll kill you." I think those lines have popped up in every movie thriller I've seen. But the best reason to see this movie is Liotta's flawless performance. On those grounds alone, this movie is well worth seeing.

My score: 8 (out of 10)

Unlawful Entry is a tense, uncomfortable home invasion thriller where the intruder is the one person who should protect you from that sort of thing: a police officer. It's a perfect concept for a thriller and here its executed to spine tingling effect, through great performances and an intimately hair raising atmosphere. Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe play a well to do yuppie couple whose house is broken into by a petty thief one night. The officer who answers their call the next day (Ray Liotta) is friendly, helpful and goes out of his way to ensure that a security system is installed and that they feel safe. His kindness takes a creepy turn though, when he sets his sights on beautiful Stowe, Russell's wife. He gets scarier and scarier, eventually becoming totally unhinged and zoning right in on her with volatile lust and unhealthy sociopathic obsession that tears all three lives apart. Liotta is scary good, and his eerie transformation from likable upstanding guy to violent stalker madman is something from a nightmare. Some scenes are downright nasty to keep your eyes on, and you really feel sick watching Stowe get exposed to this cruelty. She's darkly radiant as always though, and Russell shows fear and fury in an awesome role that isn't an easy one to play. Domestic thrillers are a dime a dozen, and often can descend into seedy melodrama, but this one takes the high road and uses genuine skill and well orchestrated tension to glue us in our seats.

Unlawful Entry along with Breakdown is another Kurt Russell film which is excellent yet doesn't receive the highly acclaimed fanfare. Actually this movie has two main stars (Russell and Ray Liotta) who are pitted against each other, resulting in a very interesting and intense emotional roller coaster.

What makes this movie great is that it has 2 actors who are very good at portraying emotional characters. Russell and Liotta are rivaled by none in depicting characters of struggle, grit,intensity and emotion. The films script and directing by it's producer Jonathan Kaplan is perfect.

Without a doubt there is something about Liotta's eyes, when he speaks, they have emotion written all over them. After watching this movie you feel that even though Liotta's character of Officer Pete Davis was initially a functioning member of society, without a doubt this guy has some serious issues and probably isn't working with a full deck. The scene where he has sex in his police cruiser with the female he earlier stopped for a ticket is almost astonishing and very eerie. This is an indication of this films mood and tone.

Russell meanwhile excellently plays his role as a husband who is struggling dealing with a policeman who; going with his instincts, is a little "off". Madeleine Stowe comes off perfect as his sexy and sultry wife who innocently is unsuspecting in realizing officer Davis's true intentions.

Without a doubt Unlawful Entry is about Michael Carr(Russell)VS Pete Davis. They square off in various ways culminating with a memorable physical confrontation at the end. One scene of note is when Officer Davis responds to the Carrs home on a hoaxed security system call. Officer Davis walks into the couples bedroom holding a flashlight during a lovemaking session and Russell fires off to him "Get the bleep outta my house!!". Later he warns his wife that "this guy is sick and he's after you". Incredibly at the onset Madeleine (Mrs Carr) doesn't believe so.

If you like a fast moving suspenseful thriller then Unlawful Entry has a lot in store for you. Director Jonathan Kaplan treated me to a classic with this score. One of Kurt Russell and Ray Liotta's best films, and neither one are shabby actors. In fact both are 2 of my favorites because they have a way of bringing to life the characters they play. Check this film out.

I've heard people who took in a viewing of this movie say it was slow. I didn't feel it was slow. There was scenes that didn't directly deal with the main plot, but I liked that because we get to know what kind of people these are and just not some vaguely sketched characters. It's here the movie works because it lines you up and scares you in real world fashion. The reality to the proceeding give it the urban horror feel and not something made up that we could never identify with or seeing happening in our real lives.

The cast carries this out efficiently while if I had any complaint about the movie it would be Kurt Russell in the smaller role as the husband. I really like Kurt Russell and unfortunately there isn't a lot for him to bite into as the real star of this movie is Ray Liotta. Who I feel bad for lately since he hasn't been able to escape this sort of psycho role, but there's no denying that he's good at it and he is largely what makes Unlawful Entry rank amongst the best of the urban psycho dramas. The story might be predictable in spots, but good performances and great atmosphere go a long way.