The Call - Review

Director: Brad Anderson Writer: Richard D'Ovidio Studios: TriStar Pictures, Troika Pictures, WWE Studios, Stage 6 Films Cast: Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund Release Date (UK): 20 September 2013 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 94 min

Kidnap thriller “The Call,” from “The Machinist” director Brad Anderson, gets off to a good, suspenseful start thanks to a clever concept and efficient thrills before its moronic finale shoots itself in the foot and then, in its final few moments, blows its brains out for good measure. Set in the hectic, unpredictable world of 911 operators, it stars Halle Berry as veteran L.A. operator Jordan, who has a particularly eventful day when she takes an emergency call from teenager Casey (“Little Miss Sunshine”’s Abigail Breslin, all grown up). Casey has been abducted by a stranger in a shopping mall parking lot and is calling on a mobile phone from the trunk of a car. The car is moving, the trunk is locked and she is trapped with only her untraceable phone, and Jordan on the other end of the line, to save her.

So begins a race against the clock to track down Casey’s ever-changing location and rescue her before her abductor, sick-minded Norman Bates wannabe Michael (Michael Eklund), reaches his destination. This part of the movie is tense, Anderson ratcheting up the suspense with futile escape attempts and increasingly violent threats from madman Michael, while cutting back and forth between Jordan and Casey as they frantically scheme to get the latter back to safety. Berry, eyes wide and ear pressed against her headset, adds sufficient dramatic weight to the proceedings as the determined but fragile 911 operator whose voice is Casey’s guide throughout her traumatic ordeal, while 17-year-old Breslin, either crammed in a trunk or strapped to a chair for much of the film, is sympathetic but strong as the helpless teen victim.

It’s nail-biting stuff, or at least it is for the first two thirds of the runtime — unfortunately, in its final third, when the film stupidly ditches the simple but fresh premise of 911 operator and caller having to work together over the phone, and Berry puts down the phone to go do some hands-on detective work of her own, the whole thing nose-dives into a hopelessly generic “Silence of the Lambs” copycat — the climax is laughably implausible and stuffed full of hackneyed genre clichés, e.g. creeping in the dark of a basement and peeping out from behind closet doors. Worse still, the film ends on a disastrously misjudged note of vengeful sadism that wouldn’t feel out of place in a “Saw” movie. Not just out of character for our heroine, the final 60 seconds are also out of character for the film, and, along with the rest of the climax, manage to spoil an otherwise neat little thriller that should’ve stuck to its killer concept — you shouldn’t have hung up the phone, movie.

Rating: 5/10