Penthouse North

Lifetime Channel movies are getting better...a little. They are using more well known movie actors, like Michael Keaton in this one. Blindsided is still not an award winning script or performance but it's much better than some (mind you I'm a Lifetime movie watcher, no matter how sappy, although I'm using a bit more discretion with my time nowadays) This movie has decent acting & suspense. It's still a bit predictable, but keeps you interested. The lead Michelle Monaghan is believable (and pretty) as a blind woman pursued by criminals, who think she knows where their "goods" are hidden. It reminds me of Audrey Hepburn's, 1967 classic film, Wait Until Dark, a much better movie. If you need something to watch on a slow weekend this will do. If you are a Lifetime movie watcher, this is a good one. 6.5 stars in my humble opinion. Jan 2014 (watched when first aired on TV)

You might like this movie if you enjoyed: Columbus Circle (1996), Brake (2012)

Long Story Short: Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), a former Military photojournalist, has lost her sight due to an incident in Afghanistan. She lives in a penthouse with her boyfriend Ryan (Andrew W. Walker) and feels safe there even though her sister (Kaniehtiio Horn) and brother-in law (Trevor Hayes) constantly tell her that they don't trust Ryan. It turns out that Ryan does have a secret and, which gets Sarah in great danger.

Review: I have never heard of that movie before but I thought I give it a shot, and it was not a bog let down, but I wasn't blown away either. The beginning is very strong and has a few "Edge- of- your- seat" – moments, but it doesn't keep this pace up, especially since there aren't any twists besides one tiny one at the beginning. I am not sure how her past of being a photojournalist in Afghanistan helped developing the story either, as far as I am concerned they didn't even have to mention why she was blind. All these flashbacks from her past seemed like fillers to me. The acting was decent, I saw a few nice skyscraper shots, but I was hoping for a big reveal at the end which didn't happen. Penthouse House is definitely a one- time watch but not a bad one.

Rating: 5.5

I'm old enough to remember being scared silly by Audrey Hepburn's movie of the 60's - a blind woman being terrorized for something her husband stole. The hand grabbing her ankle still makes me screech. This movie is nothing original but still suspenseful in a more current way - more violence, more sexual threat. However, a huge plot hole - a dead body STINKS. Blood stinks, a body "letting go" in death stinks, a sweaty killer stinks. Also, if she could hear the guy on the balcony at the end, why couldn't she hear (or smell or feel) a guy standing a foot in front of her?

Let's not beat around the bush: PENTHOUSE NORTH is a modernized rip-off of WAIT UNTIL DARK. Both movies have the same core premise: a woman blinded in an accident (or in this case, a terrorist attack) is terrorized in her NYC apartment by criminals out to find stolen goods brought to her home, only she does not know where they are. Unfortunately for PENTHOUSE NORTH, despite more overt violence, it isn't even an eighth as scary as the older movie, which brilliantly built to a chilling confrontation in the dark and culminated in actual development for the traumatized, insecure protagonist played with real warmth and vulnerability by Audrey Hepburn. Heck, PENTHOUSE NORTH's not even as memorable as other thrillers which also used this concept in the past fifty years. SEE NO EVIL and HUSH are also superior thrillers about women with disabilities in peril, mainly because they are actually, well, thrilling. PENTHOUSE NORTH's highest dramatic moment is when Michael Keaton throws a cat off a roof. That's how lacking in tension this movie is.

The biggest problem with this movie is that the heroine's disability feels needless. Aside from one or two scenes with the men hiding around when she thinks she is alone, Sarah could have been just a woman with sight and the movie would have largely played out the same. The Afghanistan prologue and flashbacks are beyond pointless: the main action takes place three years after Sarah is blinded, by which time she's adjusted to her condition, more or less, making me wonder why the war-scene flashbacks are necessary since they lead to no significant character development or revelations. Aside from learning her boyfriend is a criminal (or... did she? The ending scene suggests she might have known... I think??), Sarah does not change or grow.

The thrills are mostly predictable and the villains are basic types. The character Chad is presented like a scary psychopath, but he's more of a dumb thug, and Michael Keaton phones it in as the smooth-talking brains of the criminal duo. There's not much of a cat-and-mouse game going on between Sarah and her assailants: it's mostly them torturing/groping/threatening her, then she briefly finds a means of escaping, only to be recaptured, rinse and repeat. Stakes don't build. Sarah never changes as a character. Nothing.

And that's this movie as a whole: a generic waste of time that can't even rise to the level of so bad it's good.

A blind reclusive war photographer is living in a penthouse in New York, when she is experiencing that someone has come into her apartment. Too late she senses that there's someone there.

Well it doesn't take long before the action gets going, that's the good thing. Also the actors are doing an OK job. Nothing extraordinary, but OK job. Michael Keaton is always good in these kind of roles. Director Koseph Ruben is experienced, and has directed "Sleeping with the enemy", "The forgotten" and "The good son" amongst others. Quite good films. I don't like the war time flashbacks though. The cutter hasn't done a favorite job here.

This is very mediocre filmmaking, and has troubles in engaging me, mainly due to the script. Strange, because David Loughery, the man behind, had done good scripts like "Lakeview Terrace" and "Passenger57".

What's evident, is that blind people sense more than it's the case here. It's simply impossible to imagine a blind person being this motionless, and not even being able of smelling blood when it's out in ounces on the kitchen floor. And also another thing, when she takes out her white stick long after going out in the streets. And then a penthouse window which can be broken with throwing a chair!? Come on! This film would gave been much better if a blind had been involved in the script writing, do that stupid things could be avoided.

If you want to watch a similar themed move, seek out "Blind" by Eskil Vogt instead, which is a completely profound experience compared to this. (Blind was a selected movie, and later prize winner at Sundance Film Festival in 2014.)

The film is very predictable. So predictable it actually hurts. But if you don't mind, it's an OK watch. But if you don't wasn't to use time on mediocre films, you'll find much better!