Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10153 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-15
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Dutch
• Dubbed in: French, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's easy to understand why Arlington Road sat on the studio shelf for nearly a year. No, the film isn't awful; rather, it's an extremely edgy and ultimately bleak thriller that offers no clear-cut heroes or villains. In other words, Hollywood had no idea how to sell it. Director Mark Pellington's underrated directorial debut, Going All the Way, suffered the same fate, essentially because the film-maker's presentation of suburban America often shifts dramatically within the same film. Characters are usually miserable and bordering on meltdown, no situation is straightforward and things usually end badly.

Arlington Road begins as an astute study of suburban paranoia. Michael Faraday (a face-pinched Jeff Bridges, who spends most of the film on the brink of tears) is a college professor who teaches American history courses on terrorism. He's been a conspiracy freak since his wife, an FBI agent, was killed during a botched raid that feels like a thinly fictionalised reference to the Waco tragedy. After saving the life of his next-door neighbour's child, he initially befriends the family (Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack), but soon believes the husband is a terrorist. The first half of the film mocks Faraday: he has no real evidence and is not the most stable of protagonists. Despite the fact that it was government paranoia that got his wife killed, Faraday repeats the same type of behaviour. Pellington shifts gears in the second half, however, and for a while, it seems that the film has simultaneously sunk into a cheap, high-octane brand of Hollywood entertainment and undermined its own point. But Arlington Road possesses a stunning ending that's a real gut punch, one that may leave you needing a second viewing to catch all of its smartly executed setup. --Dave McCoy

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
George Washington University professor Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) teaches a course in terrorism, but after his wife, an FBI agent, is killed under questionable circumstances, he becomes obsessed with the topic. An all-American family moves in across the street, but Faraday soon suspects that they might be terrorists themselves. Bridges's portrayal of the man fighting against a virtually unseen enemy, with no one believing him, is reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH.

Customer Reviews

top notch thriller...
Expect the unexpected... What would you do if you suddenly become obsessed with your neighbor is a terrorist and involved in a surreptitious and bloody plot? Here, Arlington Road, directed by Mark Pellington and written by Ehren Kruger provocatively poses some serious questions about the dangers of domestic terrorism and the MASS PARANOIA of people who see giant conspiracies afoot everywhere. Also, the film attempts to examine the crooked psychology behind terrorism and caveat against the trustworthiness of your friends and neighbors.

I think Arlington Road is one of the best psychological as well as controversial thrillers to come out over the past 10 years: a good paragon of how a good thriller should be made. Story is interesting, plot is intriguing, casting is dazzling, ending is mind-blowing. Jeff Bridges, Joan Cusack and Tim Robbins all deliver brilliant performances.

Most Hollywood movies put out have the same basic plot structure and you can predict the ending halfway through the film. This one is not one of those, with an ending totally breaking down the TABOO of "good-guy wins" cliche of Hollywood. Its exhilarating "OMIGOD" ending, which is by far the most noteworthy aspect of the entire picture, defies expectations and accomplishes the difficult task of surprising the viewer.

If you like movies with sharp twists and turns, don't miss it.

Superb viewing - good story, well-acted and creepy
This is a wonderful film about the collision of small-town America with American (and not Middle-Eastern) terrorists. The plot is taut, the acting convincing and the conclusion as harrowing as the first time, early in the movie, that the director makes it clear that all is not well on Arlington Road...

Brilliance
Superb plot twists, tight story line, excellent ending. A cult in the same home theatre success as Shawshank Redemption