Obsession (2011) (aka: A Trusted Man) Charisma Carpenter, Dylan Neal, Nicholas Lea, Rachel Hayward, John Cassini Movie Review

Obsession (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Charisma Carpenter in Obsession (2011) (aka: A Trusted Man)

Obsession? More Like Obvious

It's been 3 years since Sonia Paston (Charisma Carpenter - Deadly Sibling Rivalry) was attacked in her home and despite suffering from the occasional nightmare is hitting her stride; she has been with policeman Tom (Dylan Neal - Another Man's Wife) for the past year and her job is going well. In fact her job is going too well as she is offered a great promotion which would mean leaving New York for Boston with even her therapist encouraging her to take. But Tom disagrees and he is angry that Sonia has made up her mind without even discussing it with him. Now Sonia discovers that having a cop in her life she isn't as safe as she thought as when she moves to Boston it becomes clear that someone is stalking her and targeting anyone who becomes close to her.

I don't think I was even 10 minutes in before all the pieces of "Obsession", which also goes by the name "A Trusted Man", were in place and that meant the rest of this made for TV movie was just a stroll through the ridiculously obvious. I am sorry for anyone reading this review who has watched and was impressed by this movie but after witnessing Tom's angry reaction to not only Sonia's decision to leave but also when he realises that she has been in his home and removed her stuff the rest of "Obsession" is ultimately obvious or at least obvious when we become aware that someone is stalking Sonia and targeting those in her life.

Now that wouldn't be so bad if "Obsession" played out with even a modicum of atmosphere but there is nothing and it works through the cliches which other similar movies have used, which of course means Sonia meets a new man, being cautious as to whether she can trust him and so on. The upshot of this is that firstly "Obsession" relies heavily on Charisma Carpenter being pleasant and secondly on Dylan Neal being angry which they both do but only in a way you will have seen in other made for TV movies which makes their characters forgettable, suffering from a severe lack of depth. As such whilst "Obsession" doesn't hide the fact that Dylan Neal's Tom is the obsessed stalker his campaign of terror rarely feels that terrifying.

What this all boils down to is that "Obsession" is a by the book obsessed stalker movie with a lack of depth and a reliance on actor appeal to make it work. Unless you have never watched an obsessed stalker movie before this one will not break any new ground as it sticks to the formula.


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