Tightening like a vise and lying in wait with the patience of a jack-in-the-box ready to pounce, "The Gift" is a dynamite psychological suspenser that plays like a greatest-hits compilation of Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Haneke and John Carpenter. It is rare but worth savoring to walk into a film expecting one thing based on trailers and promotional materials and getting something altogether more penetrating and provocative instead. For actor Joel Edgerton (2013's "The Great Gatsby"), making his auspicious writing-directing debut, he uses a familiar setup, one that would be right at home in a typical, threadbare "...from Hell" thriller, and then elevates it through sheer excellence in writing, performance and mise en scene. Edgerton is adept at toying with expectations—for every anticipated plot turn, there are multiple surprises—but his most invaluable gift is in never stealing focus away from his enticingly complicated characters and the personal discord in which they find themselves bitterly trapped.
See Dustin Putman, TheFilmFile.com. for full review
