Enemy - C

Quick Hit: A film that takes what sounds like an interesting book plot and tanks it.

​Enemy is an A24 film featuring Jake Gyllenhaal. That alone should be enough to tell you that this movie is a bit dark, and probably at times hard to follow (other recent A24 films include The Witch, Dark Places, Ex Machina, and Tusk). However, studio direction doesn’t excuse the problems that this movie had. The movie follows a man named Adam Bell that discovers he has an exact replica living somewhere nearby.

Jake Gyllenhaal is an actor that deserves better than this film overall.

 He has blossomed into a tremendous acting talent, with range in comedies (Bubble Boy is a guilty pleasure of mine) and dramas (if you haven’t seen Nightcrawler, you are doing yourself an injustice). And surprise, surprise, he’s good in this as well. He (and the ideas presented of course, I’ll get to those later) are the only thing that keep this movie from being a drab fest. Indeed, with the yellowish colors and high tracking shots, what else could it be?

Yellow... Yellow.. so much yellow

Hey look! More yellow!

There are times where the movie picks up and dances around being interesting. I think the interactions between Adam and Anthony’s wife, Helen (Sarah Gadon) are superbly delicate. The music (which is way too much at times) at least sets the tone for what they are trying to accomplish. It’s loud and brash, with crescendos that surprise you.

A soft scene that unfortunately most of the movie lacks.

The movie is obviously supposed to symbolize things, but it seems like they were purposely difficult in trying to figure out the symbolism. Sometimes movies can be symbolic (see Kubrick films), and sometimes they just mess with you. This movie seems like the second one. I haven’t done a spoiler break in a review in a bit, but I’m going to do one here, so check in with me after the break if you’ve seen it, or just don’t care. I feel the need to because I can’t really talk about the film without trying to analyze its meaning.
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Don't worry too much. I can't ruin what isn't explained right?

There seem to be many different interpretations to the movie. Let’s tackle the first, most obvious one shall we? Enemy seems to be just a watered down Fight Club. Are Anthony and Adam the same person? Is Anthony just cheating on his wife through this separate identity Adam? Could be – let’s talk about spiders.

Spiders are presented from the films very first act (a very uncomfortable scene). Spiders (according to the internet) are symbolic of life and our choices. This is because as we make choices in life, we spin together a “web” that becomes us and our life. This fits in with the film, because it seems obvious that the choices that each man (or the man) is making are not working out well in his life.

Any excuse to work in a superhero. He has a twisted web of a life too with two distinct personalities.

Another interpretation refers to the chaos quote at the beginning of the book, as well as parts of Adam’s lecture from the beginning of the film. The whole thing could be a metaphor for totalitarianism, since they spend extensive time repeating his monologue/lecture in the beginning. If a man is a dictator, he has total control of everything. But if a man is existing within a dictatorship, he has no control, which is something that is exhibited by both characters in the movie.

But… the most fun interpretation is that there are literally two people. Otherwise, there are parts of the movie that just don’t make sense, be it the two jobs, the wedding ring mark that has never been there before, the car crash leading to the ending, etc. But if that is the case, there doesn’t really seem much closure, and makes the spiders a weird inclusion.

Even Jake wanted more control in this film.

Anyways, after all that I give this movie a C. Feel free to watch it if you want to be confused and left unhappy.

Check out more about this movie at IMDB.