Fear
Mark Wahlberg stars in one of his first features as a hoodlum drug dealer from the wrong side of the trackswho falls in love with Nicole Walker, an upper-middle-class high school girl (Reese Witherspoon). In this psycho-drama (with the emphasis on psycho), Nicole happily loses her virginity to her first love, but, when she begins to doubt the relationship, his tenderness turns to violence, as he stalks and terrorizes her and her friends and family. The girl's father never trusted him in the first place, but his reservations about his daughter's first serious boyfriend are interpreted as Oedipal paranoia, until the boy and his drug-dealing, date-raping buddies besiege the overly fortified house in a twisted attempt to win back Nicole's love. The Seattle setting juxtaposes a grunge rock underworld with an over-privileged suburban household, and includes a very sexual ride on a roller-coaster. And yes, former underwear model Wahlberg appears shirtless several times. more..
Director: James Foley
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, William Petersen, Amy Brenneman, Alyssa Milano
Testosterone-driven entertainment with a moral, sleekly directed by James Foley.
It's a maddening, satisfying, junky, enjoyable picture.
Fear is pretty much a cheap-thrills fix; the ideas, such as they are, function as window dressing. Still, cheap though these thrills may be, they are genuinely thrilling.
Fear, thanks mostly to Foley's stylish direction and a couple of strong performances, is a much better movie than "Whispers," but those familiar with the formula will get no major surprises.
A nasty little thriller that starts out on a somewhat higher plane but eventually trades in its level head for conventional scare tactics and violence.
Best Movie Song
MTV Movie Awards (1997)
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