A laborious trip down familiar tropes
Intrusion is your typical home invasion movie with a twist. Or at least, the movie believes its a twist. In reality, this well-orchestrated movie plays out like a paint by numbers flick; highly predictable with questionable acting and lots of investigative work to pad the run-time out. Unlike a movie such as What Lies Beneath or Gothika (both clearly inspired in the making of this) Intrusion has no thrills, no supernatural edge or any genuine atmosphere. Instead, it plods along to the finish line without much aplomb. Given how many of these sorts of movies are out there, Intrusion doesn’t even make it to the middle shelf. For those who have read this far and are still intrigued, the story here revolves around a married couple, Henry and Meera. They live in a big, lavish house that Henry has built just for her. However, one night they’re burgled and the pair immediately grow more paranoid, believing they could have an enemy nearby. After a second break-in, both Meera and Henry work on their own terms to try and work out what’s really going on. The only trouble is, all evidence seems to point toward Henry being involved. But is he really? This essentially forms the crux of this movie but the third act in particular is really rough around the edges. The actual moments of tension here are bogged down with unnecessary slow-mo, some pretty atrocious acting and a conclusion that just sort of ends. Given the patience Intrusion expects of its audience to get to this point, Netflix’s latest thriller falls flat on its face and struggles to stand up again. The other massive problem with Intrusion comes from its predictability. Any fans of the thriller or crime genre will see this “twist” coming a mile off. It doesn’t help that the plot laboriously trudges from one set piece to the next before reaching this moment, with Meera piecing together clues that the audience have already figured out. When the big reveal does finally roll round, most people will simply shrug their shoulders and mutter, “called it.” One element of Intrusion that’s actually not half bad though is the soundtrack. There’s some decent low-key piano numbers in here, mixed with eerie string segments that effectively set the scene for Intrusion. Unfortunately a good orchestral score will only get you so far. Intrusion is not a particularly thrilling thriller and it’s not a particularly good home invasion story either. Instead, this predictable story runs out of steam long before the final credits. This is definitely one to avoid.
