Hallam Foe

Jamie Bell, who plays the title character in the new film Mister Foe, is the next Christian Bale. At least.

Bell was a decent kid actor and a terrific dancer in Billy Elliot, but he's grown into a really first-rate actor.

[A] prettily photographed but relationally science-fictional coming-of-age blather.

It's a coming of age you can believe in.

While the film playfully telegraphs its inspirations, Mister Foe never persuasively comes together as a dark fable about an adolescent misfit stuck in loss.

Has a strange kind of charm, a warm, open disposition that even in its darkest moments, we always pull for Hallam.

Hallam Foe does quite a few rather nasty things, but Mr. Bell's engaging and empathetic performance makes him a character we can't stop caring about.

[Mister Foe] creates a gently, but deeply, moral atmosphere.

it's ultimately impossible to rise above the overly melodramatic script. The world doesn't really need another wicked stepmother, after all.