ARLINGTON ROAD
Michael Faraday (Bridges) is a high school history teacher who
specializes in the subject of terrorism in America. His particular
fervor in that subject is fired by the loss of his wife, an FBI
agent who was killed in a fiasco like the one at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
He and his son Grant (Spencer Treat Clark) live in the suburbs,
and Michael has taken up with his former teaching assistant, Brooke
(Hope Davis), whom Grant has yet to fully accept.
As Michael is driving home one day, he discovers a young boy (Mason
Gamble) wandering in the middle of the street, bleeding, his hand
seriously burned and broken as if by a bomb. Not even knowing
the boy's name, he rushes him to the hospital. Later he meets
the child's shocked parents, Oliver and Cheryl Lang (Tim Robbins
and Joan Cusack); it turns out they are new neighbors who just
moved in. They thank Michael for saving their son Brady, sparking
a new friendship under these unfortunate circumstances. No real
explanation is given for the mishap — simply that he and
his friends must have been playing with fireworks or something.
While Brady heals, the two families become more and more close;
the boys play together (along with the Langs' two daughters) and
the four adults exchange dinners and conversation. The Langs discover
Michael's passion in his class subject, and Michael learns that
Oliver is an architect and a graduate of Kansas U. But a piece
of misdirected mail sets Michael on a trail that leads him to
uncover some disturbing facts about his new neighbor. Brooke is
horrified with his nosy behavior, admonishing him for conducting
this investigation. However, as he does more searching, using
progressively more extreme methods and enlisting the grudging
aid of his wife's former partner (Robert Gossett), he is increasingly
alarmed about what kind of person lives next door.
After allowing Grant to go to scout camp with Brady, Michael finds
that Oliver's real name is William Fenimore, a convicted criminal
who served time for trying to deliver a pipe bomb. He has changed
his name to Oliver Lang, a man from the same town in Kansas who
died suddenly. Then Oliver catches him checking up on him, Grant
turns up missing, and, as they say, the plot thickens.
This film is excellent for the first three-quarters of its running
length. Pellington's pacing and his use of dramatic lighting and
music highlight the growing sense of terror in Kruger's taut script.
Bridges and Robbins work together brilliantly to illustrate this
tension. But when the final reel kicks in and events begin to
unravel, somehow the credibility is lost. The turning point is
when we find out about Oliver's real intentions. His character
does an about-face that is a little too sudden to be believed.
But the climax is definitely thrilling, and the outcome definitely
a surprise. ****½
Copyright 1999 by John R. McEwen and The Republican