I was disappointed with Apt Pupil for several reasons, first, Todd is a badly written character with no direction or motives for anything he does in the movie. Kurt, Ian McKellen thought was "pure evil" is also a week character and almost a caricature of what he is meant to be. There is no real story, you could replace the Nazi theme with anything since this movie centers around a petulant child blackmailing an old man into telling of his past. Nearly every other character in the film is superfluous and add nothing to the film. The subplot involving Mr. French is weak and does nothing to add to the main plot. I feel like Todd doesn't develop as a character, but rather remains as he did at the beginning. If you want to see the effects of hate and Nazism, go watch American History X which is much better written and acted. Das Experiment is another good choice if you want to see a movie that explains why people do what they do. Don't waste your time on Apt Pupil.
Review of Apt Pupil
