Netflix And Chill: The Call (2013)

Despite what you may think, director Brad Anderson actually has quite a large and varied filmography. It's easy to think of him as just the man who gave us the excellent psychological horrors of both Session 9 and The Machinist (a film I find genuinely uncomfortable to watch because of how emaciated Christian Bale became for his performance), but he has been providing a lot of interesting entertainment for film fans over the past few decades. The Call is another one, and it's another very good one too.

Halle Berry is Jordan Turner, a 911 operator, and she makes a fatal mistake at the start of this movie that makes her want to take a step back from the role. She moves to an instructor position instead, but ends up taking over a call when a colleague is flummoxed by an intense call from a young kidnap victim (Casey, played by Abigail Breslin). Jordan does all she can to keep Casey safe, and to help her leave clues for the police to trace her, but the odds seem to be stacked against them getting the happy ending that they want. The kidnapper (played by Michael Eklund) seems to have planned everything perfectly, and he'll stop at nothing to achieve his ultimate aim, even if that means killing anyone who gets in his way.

Clocking in at just over 90 minutes (which includes the end credits), The Call is a slick and tense thriller, with some twists and turns that you can easily accept as it's all playing out, even if you then start to question things as soon as it's all over. The script, by Richard D'Ovidio, does very well in sketching out the few main players and leading you from one nail-biting scene to the next, and Anderson compensates for what could have been something dull to present (two people on either end of a phone call, albeit an important phone call) by keeping the camera and editing very . . . energetic, but without turning it into a headache-inducing shakey-cam-fest.

Berry does some of her best work in the main role, and she has just the right kind of attitude and tone to be very convincing as a 911 operator (I know, actors act, but Berry is much more suitable to the role than I thought she might be). Breslin has to be distraught for most of her time on screen, and she handles her role very well. Eklund is a good mix of pretend composure and complete psychopathy, and there are decent little turns from Morris Chestnut (as a cop), Michael Imperioli (as someone who notices something funny while the kidnapper is stopped at some traffic lights), and everyone else filling out the supporting cast.

It doesn't really do anything new, yet it also doesn't feel like something you've seen a hundred times before (despite the fact that you probably have), so that may be the biggest plus point for The Call. It's certainly reason to congratulate everyone who worked together to create such a well-crafted work of sustained suspense.

8/10

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Exit Wounds (2001)

Steven Seagal is a goodie but he’s the bad kind of goodie who always goes off on his own and busts heads before thinking of the repercussions. For example, saving the Vice President by throwing him into a river isn’t really what anyone wants to see in the newspapers. Which is why Seagal is sent to a different precinct, somewhere a bit rougher where he can go through the fun of being the new guy again. DMX is a baddie but he’s a good kind of baddie, perhaps. He doesn’t seem to want to kill anyone and just wants to be left to buy his drugs in peace. Perhaps. The two men find themselves in a situation that involves a LOT of heroin and a LOT of corrupt cops. Oh, and a lot of great supporting actors.

Exit Wounds is a lot of fun. The script has a lot of humour throughout and the action beats are numerous and consistently entertaining. Andrzej Bartkowiak directs with a great energy, grounding things so that each fight move packs a punch but also adding an occasional over the top move just to make things cool.

Seagal plays the same kind of character he plays in almost every movie, he’s a cop with an attitude who just wants to get the bad guys, but he also goes along with the humour and this puts him in a much better light than usual (especially in a scene where he’s sent along to an anger management group). DMX does okay onscreen but I can never seriously evaluate the acting of someone who has named themselves after some kind of computer cable (?!?!?). Elsewhere, we get treated to a fantastic and eclectic cast. Isaiah Washington, Michael Jai White, Anthony Anderson, Bill Duke, Jill Hennessy, Tom Arnold, Eva Mendes and the ever-brilliant Bruce McGill. Something to please everyone, surely.

With a lively soundtrack and some great exchanges between Seagal and whoever he deigns to share the screen with at the time, this film remains one of many simple pleasures. The plot throws in a few big twists that nobody should be shocked by but, first and foremost, it sets out to keep you entertained from beginning to end. And it absolutely succeeds.

7/10 

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