10x10

This film popped up on Now TV with 1/5 rating. Checked IMDb and again, the rating was low. Regardless, I decided to watch it and I'm glad I did. The film is much better than the ratings suggest; It was quite tense in places with a decent twist, and top notch acting. Take the bad reviews with a pinch of salt and watch this film; you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was.

First of all, this film isn't NEARLY as bad as some reviewers on here would have you believe it is. Do unrealistic situations occur? Of course they do! It's called "suspension of disbelief," guys. You know, that mode your brain reverts to when watching the SAW movies of when viewing any James bond flick. You think, "Oh my god, that is so absurd; that could never happen!" but you let it go because you understand you are watching a work of fiction. In that regard this movie fits right in. Don't think so damn much about it and just enjoy the nonsensical ride.

Now, if after watching this, you want to see Luke Evans and Kelly Reilly in far superior thriller/horror films, check out their respective movies, No One Lives and Eden Lake. The latter contains one of my all-time favorite twist endings and is one of the most brutal films I have ever seen.

I want you to tell me your name. Cathy. My name is Cathy Noland.

One thing is certain. "10X10" breaks all records when speaking of resurrections. The number of times you see one of the two protagonists getting back on their feet again seemed endless. It looked like a newer version of "Night of the living dead". But this time with two stubborn non-zombies playing in it, whose resilience seemed superhuman. At one point I was more concerned with figuring out which of the two had the lowest IQ. Because you can't keep up with the number of stupidities after a while. And finally, I also wondered at the end what statement Lewis (Luke Evans) would give about the whole event when the police show up on his driveway. It's clear I didn't really like this film. And that because of the accumulation of absurdities.

I wanted to see this movie solely because of Luke Evans appearing in it. Personally, I don't think he's a bad actor. He has a certain likable appearance. In my opinion, he didn't act so bad in "No one lives" and "Message from the king". He radiates a calmness and coolness. But here he also seems to have the gift of stupidity. Or they tried to portray him as a real amateur. However, it all starts fairly intriguing. The patience with which Luke observes his future victim Cathy (Kelly Reilly) and the seemingly perfect way in which he carries out the abduction. From then on it started to look more like a slapstick than a nerve-racking thriller. The abduction wasn't perfect, but rather a combination of coincidences and pure luck. But for all we know, he could have been caught red-handed and taken into custody. On the other hand, would that be the case, this would have been a short movie. Speaking of luck-pushing.

The next hilarious moment (intentionally I suppose) is the arrival at his hypermodern, tastefully decorated house. There the victim awaits an ingenious installed, low-noise isolation cell of 10 by 10 meters. Luke turns out to be a regular do-it-yourself shopper because he made it all by himself. He did manage to do that. But apparently, a perfectly functioning garage door was a bit too much. And from then on a psychological cat and mouse game starts that only revolves around revenge. It's best I don't tell more specifics of this less successful film. Contentwise, it's already nothing much. Let alone I'd reveal more. Actually, the content is so limited that they decided to fill it up with irrelevant trivialities and artificial emotional moments. You have to admit that the creators of this film ensured that the pace is high. Only half an hour has passed and poor Cathy is already gagged and screaming anxiously in her cell.

The fact that "10X10" didn't meet my expectations is, in my opinion, not due to the acting itself. That wasn't so bad. It was even reasonably convincing at times. I think that the script is the cause of this disappointment. And this because of a too limited story. How can you make a whopper of a film from a wafer-thin, simplistic plot? Even the Spielberg's and George Lucas's wouldn't figure out how to do that. To be honest, it didn't matter to me anymore who would die in the end. I was already satisfied that at least an acceptable playing time had been provided.

Not sure what the terrible reviews are about. This deserves at minimum 5-6/10. It's unique, it's got some thrills and great fight scenes. Give it a try, guaranteed your entertained.

The stage curtains open ...

It's really hard to talk about this movie without spoiling it ... but, I will do my best not to. Let's just say that nothing is as it seems - sounds familiar, I know. It's another one of those kind of movies.

The movie starts with a man watching a woman, and then eventually, abducting her and taking her to his rural home in the trees. He drags her inside the house and throws her into a 10x10 padded room (hence the movie's title). Right away, you are intrigued. Why does he have her there? Why all the preparation of the room, hiding the room, and why her? The movie does a good job of building the suspense and the questions are coming up right and left as it begins to develop. I actually liked the story and the reason why she was there.

My problem with the movie, though, is in how the answer is delivered. I felt this was a missed opportunity for something really special. First - for having "months" to prepare for this, he really wasn't too bright. Abducting her in broad daylight, in the middle of a shopping center parking lot - she even got out some shouts for help (but, of course, the ONLY person in the vicinity is wearing headphones and listening to loud music...lol). Then when he gets home, before he takes her out of the trunk of his car, he just leaves the garage door open. There is a reason for this - a real eye roller too. And then he isn't quick to notice that she still has her cell phone on her, even inside the secret room.

She isn't too bright either ... for starters, there is one point in the film where she manages to knock him out cold. And instead of taking his gun, she wastes time trying to get out the door, use his phone ... pretty much everything except for the one thing she should have done. But, I guess if she would've done that, we'd have no spectacular ending - which really isn't that spectacular.

I can't recommend this one. The idea of the movie was better than the movie itself. This could've been so much better. The promise just got worse and worse as the movie wore on. Too bad. I just hate seeing great ideas go to waste like this one.