Rating 18
Length 1h29
Release 12.4.2017
Director Greg McLean (Writer James Gunn)
About An ordinary day at the office becomes a horrific quest for survival when 80 employees (John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona) at the Belko Corp. in Bogotá, Colombia, learn that they are pawns in a deadly game. Trapped inside their building, a voice over an intercom tells the frightened staffers that two workers must be killed within 30 minutes. When another ultimatum follows, friends become enemies and new alliances take shape, as only the strongest will remain alive at the end.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: To purchase on Amazon Prime
Trailer:
Trick
- The film looses steam about 40 minutes in. The issue being that the first half is solely relying on the charm of Dave Grohl to keep the story moving.
It eventually delivers what the film needs, scenes without Grohl, but far too late and it feels like a mid-production direction change. It’s a shame because if we got some of those ‘rest of the band’ scenes earlier on, it have shaped up the narrative a little better. - In equal measure, the film keeps the rest of the band on the side lines. We see them all drift in and out of scenes, but never without Grohl.
- The plot is there, and I guess it’s to do with following a protagonist rather than an ensemble, but it just feels like in an attempt to have some mystery the film left the audience behind.
Treat
- So many brownie points for not making this a ‘found footage’/ documentary movie. It easily could have been the way they made this. I wouldn’t have survived more than five minutes if it was the case.
- Dave Grohl *is* amazing. I’m sure you’d think, based on above, that I was the opinion he was atrocious. Not in the slightest, he was really good. It’s just that I felt the weight of him carrying the film. The sad thing about it though is that he didn’t have to.
It’s safe to say that Grohl is awesome, he’s charming and he’s a solid performer. I had a smile on my face for most of the movie. - Once the film shifts its focus at around the hour mark, it gets a second wind and we finally see the other members of the band come to the forefront.
- There is this amazing homage to the Exorcist that I just want framed. It’s not so obvious that everyone and your aunt will get it, but if you know… man, it’s Leo-pointing-at-the-tv brilliant.
- There’s a blend of both B-movie practical effects and some killer CGI. They’re both used at the right time to keep the films tone and humour.
- The music. Can I really talk about a Foo Fighters film without the music? It’s all great. There’s some call backs to their discography which I adored. There’s also a pretty decent cameo that I could rewatch for days.
However, the gem of this film is the theme which is heard during the opening credits. It is incredible. So it should come as no surprise when I tell you that none other than John Fucking Carpenter helped compose that bad boy! be still my heart!
Final Thoughts
When you consider other band attempts at playing themselves for the silver screen, this is light years ahead of any others. As a horror movie goes, however, the camera focuses way too much on Grohl until too late and the casual viewer has all but lost interest.
Make it more of an ensemble and this would be incredible.
The Queens of Geekdom 