Control

An ambitious movie that lacks the means to fulfill its aspirations

Bookended by a couple of location shoots that must have accounted for more than half of the film's budget, this is the latest entry in a genre that includes Buried (2010) and Phone Booth (2002), in which a victim trapped in a confined space is taunted by a moralising voice on the end of a phone line

The twist here is that the immobile victim is trapped inside a moving (self-driving) vehicle, turning this into a sort of schlocky, genre variation on Steven Knight's brilliant Locke (2013), where Tom Hardy has to resolve his personal issues from behind the wheel of his BMW X5, with only his bluetooth connection to help

Interestingly, all four films revolve around marital infidelity, with the confined circumstances of the protagonists forcing them to confront the consequences of their actions

The difference between Control and the other examples cited above is the ingenious ways the other movies find to complicate and escalate the bind in which their characters find themselves

The scenario and the antagonist's motivations established within the first ten-to-fifteen minutes of the movie and the parameters never really change, which means the only entertainment we have are the disembodied Spacey's long monologues about what a terrible person Metcalfe's protagonist is and how the powerful disregard or mistreat the ordinary people all around them at their peril

Metcalfe's character is the UK Home Secretary, which makes Spacey's overwrought and often unintentionally comic rhetoric feel very on the nose and student politics-y

The film *really* commits to its premise, never straying outwith the confines of the vehicle, meaning all the drama has to play out on Metcalfe's face

That's admirable, but a film with greater resources at its disposal would have been able to create a greater sense that this was happening inside a speeding vehicle, rather than in front of a green screen or back-projection of blurry London streets

And maybe a stunt or some fast-paced mayhem and destruction, to break up the sedentary monologues and create a sense of physical peril as well as moral hazard.

I didnt expect it to be this bad. Where to begin?

Beware: this movie doesnt feature Kevin Spacey, it only features his VOICE. That's it, we dont get to see the man. What we do get to see is a B-movie actress who is (ofcourse) severely limited in portraying any true to life emotions and THAT IS A PROBLEM, because we get to see ONLY 1 THING and that is this terrible actress driving in her car all the time, talking to Kevin Spacey. What the what!?

Wow. I really had to gather myself after witnessing such a low point in movie making.

This movie undoubtedly is a failed copycat of a terrific other movie called "Locke" (2014) which has got a terrific acting performance (by Tom Hardy) and fabulous build up in suspense and drama, everything this movie is definitely lacking in...

This seems to be a film that aims to give us a good feeling because those nasty politicians get what is coming to them finally. It is obviouly done on a very tigh budget because the whole film is really about one actress in a car with a voice tormenting her. Frankly after the first 10 minutes it gets rather boring so skip to the last 10 and save the time waste and get the ending. It is one of those films that pretends to be or maybe (being kinder) aspires to meaningful and moral but comes of a bit creepy and one dimensional. The actress struggled with the role and who can blame her with the material she had to present.

Dear I can do i all writer / director;

This movie is another example of why Hollywood and film making is dying. It is a sad thing to watch and here is why.

Rather than let writers write and directors direct, you thought, and dismally failed, at doing both.

Actors should act.

Writers should write.

Directors should direct.

And when you attempt more than one thing, you end up creating a mess like this movie. Even Kevin Spacy could not save it because the writing and directing were done by the same person who could do neither well.

Even Metropolis with a 125 Million budget failed. Reason: director who decided to write and then direct what he wrote. It was a disaster of a film as is this mess you created.

Please stick to one career and do it well.

Lost control - the control has been lost ... well you get it. So no pun intended ... I have to admit I was kind of happy to hear Kevin Spaceys voice ... all his personal stuff aside, he is a great actor. And the fact he was able to phone it in (come on, the movie makes it easy to go for that pun, not my fault) ... made it even a win win for everyone ... I do miss his screen presence to be honest.

Even more so if you consider how low this goes on many aspects ... the main actress does her best, but she is not able to hold our attention for long ... if for any time ... no offense, maybe it was not her material, the script does not seem to be top notch either.

Anyway some fun ideas are buried here somewhere - but if there ever were any great ones ... they lost control over them ... hey I can't control myself either ... and you won't be able to either watching this ... movie.