In the world of the film blogosphere we love to heaps mountains upon mountains of adulation all over films that spark originality — and for good reason — whether it be original in narrative or technical. However, at times originality isn’t always the only way to be praised, perfecting that which has existed forever is also a way of being praised.

The world seems to be divided on Edgerton’s The Gift. There’s the one half that sits and just rolls their eyes as Edgerton’s film moves from point to point without being surprised at all because it leans so heavily on the world of these sorts of thrillers that came before it; and the other half that stands up in applause at Edgerton’s ability to craft something so lovely that we almost forget that the tropes have been there forever. I happen to be a part of the later and proudly so.

There are three main qualities of this film that makes it worthy of my praise and your time: craft, performance and shock.

When I speak of craft I mean the general tone of the film. If you’ve seen the trailer, which I believe if you’ve been to a theatre in the last 2 months you probably have, then you can see the eerie tone that film takes on. Edgerton is able to find ways to make the most innocent of gestures seem offputting and most importantly question the worlds we place ourselves in. When the film opens we see Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, the happily married couple, viewing this new home that their looking at moving in to — and eventually do — and we love it. If you were watching an episode of House Hunters you would be seeing all sorts of people fawn over the spacing of the home and the lighting and such. It’s bright, sheek, and comforting. After they meet Edgerton’s character and he begins to start visiting them you get a weird sense of vulnerability. All the qualities of the home that endeared it to them have suddenly become negatives. This family is now exposed and the world can look in on them at any time. This is the beginning of what craft Edgerton lays down in his film.

Edgerton and Bateman lift this film on to their backs that if it were made in the 50s would be no more than a run of the mill B-movie where everyone plays their roles as if they were cartoon cut outs. Here however Edgerton and Bateman constantly are flip flopping from the victim to the culprit of who did who wrong. When it’s all over and done we’re no longer thinking of who’s right but just wallowing in the despair of these characters. That is when we can easily peek into this movie and stop thinking of it as this dumb thriller and thinking of it as more.

I hate to keep harping on tropes in cinema but it’s hard not to try and be defensive to get one’s point across with a film like this. Films like this live on shock value. People like to take shots of horror films for their jump scares — this film has a couple of them — but the truth of the matter is that these complaints aren’t the cause of a bad movie, they’re just something to add on to the list of complaints of a film when that film is bad. Edgerton uses the tension between this loner and the couple just moving into to town to keep his audience on edge from the beginning to the end and it works. We watch as each character’s morality, perception and social anxiety is twisted to a finale that will make the willing audience member ride the emotional roller coaster that is this film.

If you’re rolling your eyes already then worry not, you can ignore this movie and this posting; however if you’re writhing in anticipation already then enjoy good sir and madams, enjoy.