The Intruder

The Intruder follows married couple Scott (Michael Ealy) and Annie (Meagan Good) as they buy an expansive (and remote) estate from Dennis Quaid’s Charlie Peck, with problems (and violence) ensuing as it becomes more and more clear that Charlie might not be entirely ready to let go of his home. Filmmaker Deon Taylor delivers a thriller that offers little in the way of surprises or even momentum but ultimately does manage to get the job done, with the movie’s extremely mild success due almost entirely to Quaid’s progressively larger-than-life turn as the unapologetically broad villain (ie the actor’s scenery-chewing work, particularly in the movie’s exciting third act, essentially compensates for the otherwise lackluster atmosphere). It’s fairly disappointing to discover, though, that the film’s paint-by-numbers opening hour contains little worth embracing or getting excited about, as scripter David Loughery has suffused this portion of the proceedings with long, drawn-out sequences that are either padded-out or entirely needless – with the latter particularly true of everything involving Scott and Annie’s marital problems (and Scott’s temptation at the hands of an attractive client). The lack of salacious elements grows increasingly problematic as the viewer’s interest begins to seriously flag, and although things certainly pick up with the gleefully less-than-subtle final stretch, The Intruder has long-since cemented its place as a barely-passable thriller that benefits substantially from Quaid’s engrossing performance.

**1/2 out of ****