An Enemy Within

This movie wedding could get as bad as Game of Throne’s “Red Wedding,” but viewers don’t have much time to invest in the characters, who generally consist of stereotypical rich jerks. The Foresights might sound like Galsworthy’s literary clan, but they are considerably harder and meaner. Nevertheless, reasonably well-heeled Caleb Wingate expected to continue rising in the Foresight family business, after marrying his boss’s daughter, until a terrorist gives him an ultimatum: kill his new father-in-law by midnight or his newlywed wife dies. It is not exactly a “Sophie’s Choice,” but it is still a super-awkward buzz-kill in director-screenwriter John Michael Kennedy’s An Enemy Within, which releases today on VOD.

Wingate’ father made no secret of his disappointment when his son went to work for the rival Foresights. However, Robert Foresight was more of a shark, especially when it comes to doing natural resources deals in Africa. Unfortunately, he did not live up to his name when he crossed “The Wolf,” a notorious assassin the Foresight company used to employ.

The Wolf delivered the ultimatum, but a mystery client is calling the sniper’s shots. Regardless, Wingate must kill the Foresight patriarch by the mandated deadline and he cannot allow any guests to leave in the meantime. That causes some seemingly erratic behavior, greatly straining his hours-old marriage. However, an old pro like the senior Foresight recognizes trouble. However, as more family members become privy to the standoff, the recriminations really start to fly.

This film definitely exhibits a pronounced degree of class resentment, but there is also a kind of grudging admiration for the elitist characters’ ruthless survival drives. Despite his increasingly dire situation (including a non-fatal gun-shot wound), steely middle-aged Robert Foresight is definitely the sort of fellow you want on your side during a time of crisis.

Indeed, Patrick Baladi greatly elevates old man Foresight with his surprisingly charismatic and dryly droll portrayal. Likewise, Alexander Lincoln works overtime chewing the scenery as Wingate’s bitterly jealous and snidely petulant younger brother Jackson. Even though Kennedy largely recycles overly familiar stock characters, the supporting cast does yeoman’s work punching them up. Ironically, William Moseley (the youthful lead of the Narnia films) and Kim Spearman suffer in comparison as the all-too-staid groom and bride.

Kennedy’s twists are not especially clever or surprising, but the film’s neurotic energy is bizarrely entertaining. This is a loud, messy film, but once it sets up the conflict, it never bores. Recommended as a lowbrow guilty pleasure once it reaches free ad-supported streamers, An Enemy Within releases today (5/15) on VOD.