Apt Pupil – Gandalf the Nazi

Is it just me or are the filmic adaptations of Stephen King's books better if there's no supernatural element to the story?  This one follows a short story of his pretty closely (according to those who have actually read the source  material - I must confess that I haven't!) of a straight A high school student (Brad Renfro) in the eighties who discovers that a former World War II Nazi (Sir Ian McKellan) is living in his community.  

Now, I would imagine most of us would simply inform the relevant authorities of such suspicions and let them do the rest.  However, this 'straight A' student isn't quite as 'clean cut' as we may first think.  He decides to play some sort of weird psychological game with the grown man and find out as much as he can about the man's activities during those infamous years in the 1930s/40s.

It's certainly a strange sort of story.  For a start, most people will hardly be rooting for a Nazi who freely admits to his 'participation' in Second World War gas chambers.  Yet the young boy isn't that much of your typical 'hero' either, seeing as he seems more obsessed with simply finding out all these 'juicy' details, rather than seeing (belated) justice be served.

But, just because there's no one we probably 'identify' with, doesn't make it any the less compelling to watch.  Of course, pretty much anything with Ian McKellan in is most likely worthy of our time and it's nice to see his 'darker' side be explored.

If there was one thing that lets it down, in my opinion, it's that a major part of the (latter) story comes in the form of a coincidence that seems a little too far-fetched to be anything other than a way of moving the plot forward.  However, the 'sparring' between the two leads makes it worth watching and possibly the thought that men who were involved in such atrocities evaded justice for so long is actually a greater 'horror' than many of King's various ghosts and monsters throughout his career.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that