Enduring Love

This film has one of the most original opening sequences I’ve ever seen. And yet, it’s a movie about a stalker, which, let’s face it, is a topic that’s been pretty well covered. Nonetheless, on the basis of its beautiful and thoughtful beginning, wherein a red hot-air balloon crashes on a green field and then shoots skyward again, trailing four would-be rescuers, Enduring Love is probably worth seeing. There are also some fine performances by Daniel Craig and Samantha Morton as a couple whose lives are changed by the balloon incident, and Rhys Ifans as the deranged man who starts to stalk them. While there are some minor twists on the standard stalker tale, most of what happens after the balloon sequence is formula stuff. It’s incredibly well photographed, thoughtful, nicely scripted formula stuff, but still, this being the 19 billionth stalker movie made in the last 20 years, one has to wonder if there aren’t better ways to follow up such an original opening sequence.