|
The Call
| Released |
20 September 2013 |
| Director |
Brad Anderson |
Starring
|
Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, David Otunga, Michael Imperioli |
| Writer(s) |
Richard D'Ovidio |
Producer(s)
|
Bradley Gallo, Jeffrey Graup, Michael A. Helfant, Michael Luisi, Robert Stein |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
94 minutes |
| Genre |
Crime, thriller |
| Rating |
16 |
|
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Hanging on the telephone.
So what's the deal with Halle Berry? She's had a fairly odd kind of career. She's undeniably famous in terms of celebrity, the tabloids certainly seem interested enough in her fairly turbulent love life. On the bones of it, she seems to have a pretty credible acting career too in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. She remains the only African-American to have won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball. She was a Bond girl and an X-Man.....well X-woman actually as Storm in Bryan Singer’s original outing of the franchise before the recent re-boot.
Now I think of it, X-Men is a somewhat outdated term isn't it? It must be X-People surely to take account of the female members like Storm, Jean Grey and Rogue? The mutants’ genetics may be evolving but their gender politics don't seem to be keeping pace. But I digress…..
Along with those career highs, Berry has had plenty of lows too. Catwoman was a disaster on every imaginable level and she was awarded the Golden Raspberry for worst actress, although in fairness at least she was a good sport about it and turned up to accept the award. Notwithstanding that, she seems to have a mix of celebrity and acting chops that should make her a bigger star than she is. But honestly, when's the last time you said, "Let's go and see the latest Halle Berry movie!"
The Call might just be that movie though. A relatively low-budget film it was a surprise hit in the States. It tells the story of Jordan (Berry) a veteran Los Angeles 911 call operator who becomes burnt out on the job after a call she handles goes tragically wrong. She nevertheless gets drawn back to the job but with her nerves shot she works only as a trainer. When giving a tour of the facilities to new recruits she overhears a 911 call from Casey (Abigail Breslin), a teenager who's been kidnapped by a serial killer (Michael Eklund). Jordan immediately gets back on the saddle to help Casey who’s calling from the trunk of the killer’s car. She has to use all her wits and experience as an operator to help Casey survive while also dealing with the cop on the case (Morris Chestnut) who just happens to be her boyfriend.
The central tenet of the plot is quite an interesting and original one, recognising the work of the 911 call operators and making them the hero rather than the cops on the ground. For the first hour of the movie it’s quite well done as Jordan tries to help Casey alert others to her situation in a number of smart ways. It’s such a shame then that director Brad Anderson doesn’t have the courage to follow his storyline to the end.
In the last half an hour the whole premise of the story is betrayed to conform to stock Hollywood endings in these types of thrillers. A previously intelligent, professional character starts doing dumb, amateurish things including most grievously, not calling 911 when they really should, which is kinda the whole point of the film, no? It gives the film a typical ending that you would expect from a bog-standard slasher flick, but feels totally incongruous with what’s gone before.
For her part, Berry is fine in the lead, although really isn’t given a whole lot to work with in terms of the character. Beslin, who’s now virtually unrecognisable from the sweet little kid in Little Miss Sunshine, isn’t required to do much else except cry and scream but she gives it her best. Michael Eklund at least gives good creepy face as the killer.
In truth it’s a decent enough B-movie thriller for the most part and is worth a watch. But it loses about 20 points for the dreadful, dumb-as-a-bag-of-hammers ending.
- Jim O’Connor |
