Fear (1996)

It is a performances centric movie

A different way of telling a story

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Throw in some great music from Bush and 90s clothing, bring back some great memories. Mark, Reece, n Alyssa all looked great then. William Petersen so many times looked like Liev Schreiber. Not a great movie but a movie to watch too.

A love story between two teens turns into a horrific nightmare in this romantic thriller directed by James Foley. Reese Witherspoon plays Nicole Walker, an average 16-year old girl in high school with great friends and loving parents. While attending a party with her best friend Margo (played by Alyssa Milano), she meets a handsome young named David McCall (played by Mark Wahlberg) who gives Nicole a ride home after the party. Nicole eventually develops a relationship with the seemingly heartthrob guy, much to the dismay of her overprotective father Steve (played by William Petersen) and their starts off fairly well. However, when David's love for Nicole soon grows into an obsession, a violent incident at school leads Nicole to believe that David may not be innocent as he appears to be. Nicole soon learns that David does not take "no" for an answer and will stop at nothing their relationship together, even if it involves harm of the ones she loves."Together forever...or else" is the tagline for this film, and it definitely resonates well with the film's plot as it deals with a young man's obsession with a beautiful girl that turns into deadly before she knows it. This teen version of the classic erotic thriller 'Fatal Attraction' puts Mark Wahlberg in his first role after his departure from the rap group Marky Mark and The Funky bunch, as a high school boy with a charming personality that masks his violent, sadistic nature. While his performance in this role is competent, he seems a bit miscasted. He doesn't look very threatening enough as the antagonist, even during the climax towards the end with the home invasion. As a result, his portrayal as the violent, obsessive young man doesn't feel very convincing. His performance as David McCall only feels believable when he and Reese Witherspoon begin their relationship and when they are sharing romantic moments together before his violent persona takes flight. After all, Wahlberg is only for portraying heroic roles in his films. On the bright side, the movie does manage to deliver some solid thrills and a few suspenseful moments to carry the dark atmosphere, while borrowing a few elements from other erotic thrillers. And the romance between Wahlberg and Witherspoon during the first half works fine, steering away from cheesy dialogue that many romance flicks are notorious for. The film doesn't offer much new to the table or anything to leave an worthwhile impression, but carries some entertainment value at least.Fear is a fine romance thriller that may appeal to teens as well as some adults, but nothing truly original nor overly clichéd should be expected here. This definitely isn't the most memorable in the resumes of the two main leads, but it is one worth checking out.

Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) is a rebellious teen angry with his father (William Petersen) and particularly his new wife (Amy Brenneman). She parties with her best friend Margo Masse (Alyssa Milano) and falls for bad boy David McCall (Mark Wahlberg).This is an afterschool special with sexed up Reese and Alyssa to hook the public. There is no surprises and no drama. This thing might as well be on autopilot. She goes out with the bad boy and the bad boy turns out to be a bad boy. What a twist! It's a mistake to start Mark Wahlberg off creepy. The character really needs a more innocent facade. I'm willing to buy the afterschool special storyline. But you've got to earn the drama. This didn't earn anything close to that.

There's a lot about "Fear" that's pretty cliché. The charming boyfriend who turns out to be a controlling, violent, psychopathic, obsessive guy who can't let go of the girl he's "fallen in love" with in spite of the fact that neither she nor her family want him around anymore. I can't say that struck me as particularly creative, nor did I find the bulk of the story especially interesting. It does, however, have some things going for it.First, I have to give credit to Drew Barrymore and Mark Wahlberg. Setting aside the fact that both were a little older than the characters they were playing, they were quite good in their roles as the young & naive Nicole and the charming psychopath David who sweeps her off her feet. Both were in the very early stages of their respective acting careers, but the lack of experience didn't show. They were convincing. The rest of the cast didn't really measure up to their standards, but the characters were interesting enough. I could certainly relate to William Petersen as Nicole's dad as he gets more and more concerned about this relationship his daughter is having, even though for some reason Petersen didn't really strike home with me in the role. And I have to say that although the movie almost lost me with the silly scene where David tattoos "Nicole 4 Eva" on his own chest, and while most of the story really didn't make that much of a connection with me, the last 20 minutes or so turns out to be a pretty good ride. It also is pretty standard for this kind of movie - as Nicole's entire family ends up doing battle with David and the bad guys, etc., etc., but it was very well done and exciting.This isn't a bad movie. It's perhaps a bit too much driven by clichés and a storyline that isn't very original, but it's well made and it has enough to keep the viewer interested. (6/10)