‘Intrusion’ Review: Strong Actors Saddled With Weak Characters

Meera and Henry Parsons live in a lavish house in a secluded part of a small town in the U.S, it’s only been three months since they moved in and they already experience a home invasion. Intruders who barge in not once, but twice into their place; leaving Meera with trauma and questions, because her husband seems eerily calm about it.

The 2021 film “Intrusion” directed by Adam Salky and written by Chris Sparling is quite interesting for the first 20-30 minutes. Freida Pinto as the cancer survivor Meera gives her role a 100%, so does Logan Marshall-Green as Henry, her husband. But within half-hour, most viewers would be able to guess what’s going to happen in the end, and the predictability is not even the biggest problem, the poor characterization is.

Despite an interesting plot, the makers make Meera such a dumb screaming mess, that it gets frustrating to watch her commit silly mistakes. For example, when the couple is trying to escape from the clutches of the intruders in their home, Meera is so loud, it’s hard to believe the woman battled cancer. Might as well call the burglars and tell them where you, if you are going to scream and give away your location? It’s not like she is a poorly-educated housewife, she is a Boston university graduate who is a practicing therapist. And for a therapist, the protagonist is a little too dumb for my liking. Freida Pinto is actually great for the brief given to her, but she deserved a stronger & intelligent character.

The movies does have a few high-points – there are some really good jump-scare moments that befit the thriller genre. In-fact, ‘Intrusion’ will manage to give viewers more anxiety than some horror movies, the good ‘nail-biting’ kind. The background music blends well with the script and does a good job of keeping the movie pacy. There’s a decent red-herring inserted into the story that would throw some viewers off the track. But no matter how many salient points one lists, Meera’s character does something or the other (even though they are really small mistakes), that just doesn’t fit in the with the ‘strong – intelligent’ woman she is supposed to be.

As far as the climax is concerned, it was decent enough, the makers thankfully don’t drag things much or go on some emotional overdrive. If the writers had just worked a little more harder on the story, this could’ve been a great thriller. In the end, it’s just another average film that you can watch on a weekend, if you don’t know what to pick. It has no ‘re-watch’ value.

It’s a 6/10 from me. You can stream it on Netflix.