December 1, 2012 -- Orlando Bloom (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) stars as Dr. Martin Blake, who is just starting his residency in a hospital under the direction of chief of staff Dr. Waylans (played by Rob Morrow of the “Numb3rs” TV series). Martin seems like a pretty normal guy at first, but he does expect too much deference from nurse Theresa (Taraji P. Henson of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) who is not afraid to challenge him when he makes a serious mistake on a patient prescription.

Martin seems to have a large emotional hole inside. He has no friends, little connection to his family and his life seems to be limited to his work in the hospital. His apartment is entirely too Spartan and neat, indicating his inner emptiness. He seems a little too cold and distant. It turns out that Martin is not just a little strange. He is genuinely creepy and his inner creepiness has very dangerous manifestations in the real world. After watching this film you will be doubly determined to stay away from hospitals.

One day a beautiful young girl, Diane Nixon (Riley Keough of “Magic Mike”) is admitted to the hospital with an infection. Martin is attracted to Diane and she to him. Martin cures her infection and the family is grateful. They invite Martin to their home for dinner and Martin accepts because he wants to see Diane again, but she is not there. Then he does something extraordinary. He gets access to Diane's medication, dumps out the contents of the pills and refills them with a substance that will make her sick.

This action gets Diane back in the hospital where she is under Martin's control again. To make sure she stays in the hospital, Martin secretly manipulates her medications. Instead of getting better, she gets sicker. Martin's activities include theft of medications and switching medications in the middle of the night at Diane's bedside, and a lot of activities that should have gotten noticed, but he is exceptionally sneaky.

Eventually Martin's secret activities become a liability to him. An orderly at the hospital, Jimmy (Michael Peña of “End of Watch”) gets possession of Diane Nixon's diary, which has evidence of an improper relationship with Martin. Martin is eventually questioned by police. His actions lead to blackmail, murder and death. Diane's father (Wade Williams of “The Dark Knight Rises” angrily confronts Martin, but finds the medical establishment has built an impenetrable barrier around him. He is above reproach. If you are in a hospital reading this, get out, get out as fast as you can. This film rates a B.

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Copyright © 2012 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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