‘Intrusion’ (2021) Review: Netflix’s New Thriller is Frustrating and Predictable
Marriage is built on the foundation of honesty, love, attention, and good communication. It takes work and years of sacrifice to truly know the person that you are going to spend the rest of your life with. For Meera (Frieda Pinto) and Henry (Logan Marshall-Green), that is the foundation of their marriage; however, not everything is what it seems. Netflix’s new thriller Intrusion, directed by Adam Salky, is about a married couple who lead a beautiful life in a modern home on the outskirts of a small town. It is an interesting thriller that stops trying to keep the audience interested, and it is not worth a second watch.
Meera and Henry move into a small town to start a new life after Meera’s cancer treatment. Not long after, a group of people invade their home. Henry kills one of them, and Meera is traumatized by witnessing the murder. When the couple meets with the lead detective (Robert John Burke), he informs them that the people who invaded their home are the Cobb family. They are looking for their family member Christine Cobb (Megan Elisabeth Kelly), who’s been missing for a few months. Meera becomes suspicious of Henry and she slowly starts to uncover some truths about the people around her.
Even while Intrusion elevates the plot by hinting that Meera’s husband might be a suspect, the movie becomes predictable during the first act. None of these issues with the plot is intentional, but Salky does not attempt to keep the audience interested enough to wonder who the actual culprit is. But still, there is nothing for the audience to work with, and they are left to watch the movie until the obvious truth is revealed. The hints are dropped throughout the movie and yet it leaves a bad taste due to its predictability. Even when the truth is revealed, it seems so lacklustre to the point where I sighed at the realization that I was right all along. Intrusion does not raise the stakes and kills the suspense by making it predictable.
As for the performances, Pinto delivers the role with the emotional vulnerability of a woman who has gone through a traumatic experience. She attempts to push the boundaries of the role, playing a wife who suspects that the love of her life may not be who he appears to be at all. Not everyone is who they say they are, but Pinto revels in this role and takes it with such intense emotion and curiosity to find the truth about the unknowable presence in their home. Marshall-Green plays the loving husband who turns into one of Meera’s suspects, and he turns the role into one that is somewhat memorable. Marshall-Green reveals a variety of ranges, turning from cold and menacing to caring and loving, slowly revealing his true nature from beneath the cracks.
Intrusion has many flaws, and even the best parts of the movie do not bring it justice. With camera tricks that build the suspense of this thriller, it just does not have any kind of excitement that is worth the thrill. However, cinematographer Erin Lin captures beautiful landscapes and interior shots of the house to establish the environment inside Meera and Henry’s beautiful home.
Despite Pinto and Marshall-Green’s fine performances, Intrusion is frustratingly derivative and predictable to watch. Even when the movie reaches the final act, it’s underwhelming and does not surprise the audience. There is nothing original about this movie; however, for audiences who enjoy the predictable twists, Intrusion might be worth the watch. Stunning and compelling performances by Pinto and Marshall-Green are not enough to save the movie from its horrific trenches. For a thriller movie, it delivers on the jumpscares but fails to deliver any real surprises.
