Wasim Aftab
Neglected starts with a familiar crime-thriller idea, but there is more going on beneath the surface than the setup initially suggests. Directed by David Lipper, the film follows Detective Matthew Shaw (Josh Duhamel), who is expecting his first day of retirement to be fairly uneventful. That changes when AJ (Dylan Sprouse), a blood-covered teenager, walks into the police station and delivers a terrifying message: Shaw’s son has been buried alive. To save him, Shaw has to solve a series of murders before it is too late.
It is a strong setup, and easily one of the film’s best qualities. The situation immediately creates a sense of urgency, while the connection between the murders and Shaw’s own past gives the story a more personal angle. Neglected is not simply interested in presenting another detective hunting a killer. It tries to examine what happens when institutional failure and professional indifference eventually catch up with the people responsible. Its focus on troubled young people, foster care and the consequences of neglect gives the story a darker emotional layer.
Dylan Sprouse is arguably the film’s most interesting element. AJ is written as a damaged, unpredictable young man, and Sprouse gives him enough intensity to keep the character engaging even when the screenplay does not always give him enough material to work with. His scenes with Duhamel are among the strongest in the film because there is a genuine tension between the two characters.
Duhamel also gives a solid performance as Shaw, particularly as the character is forced to deal with both the immediate crisis and the mistakes connected to his past. The father-and-detective sides of Shaw work reasonably well together, even if the screenplay does not always explore that conflict as deeply as it could.
The biggest problem is the mystery itself. For a film built around solving a series of murders, Neglected does not give the audience much room to investigate alongside Shaw. The clues tend to arrive when the story needs them, making the mystery feel more straightforward than the premise suggests. Several reviews have pointed to the film’s formulaic approach, and that is difficult to ignore. There are interesting ideas here, but the actual detective story rarely feels as complicated or unpredictable as it should.
The pacing also works against the film. At roughly 93 minutes, Neglected is hardly an overly long movie, yet some sections of the investigation feel stretched. The ending is another issue, continuing beyond what might have felt like a more natural stopping point. Visually and in terms of production, the film can also come across more like a television thriller than a crime film designed for the big screen.
What keeps Neglected from being a complete disappointment is the subject matter behind the murder mystery. The film clearly wants to say something about neglected children, institutional responsibility and personal guilt. Those themes are arguably more compelling than the mystery itself. There is a worthwhile film hiding inside the premise; unfortunately, the screenplay never develops those ideas quite enough to make the thriller as powerful as it could have been.
In the end, Neglected is a film with a genuinely interesting starting point and a committed performance from Dylan Sprouse. Josh Duhamel provides dependable support, and the themes give the story some emotional weight. But predictable detective work, uneven pacing and an underdeveloped screenplay ultimately hold it back.