La hora del silencio

Director Brad Anderson delivers a film that is more entertaining than you might think. It won't revolutionize anything, but it has a lot more content than you might think, which makes for a pleasant time.

Starring Joel Kinnaman and Sandra Mae Frank, the film follows a Boston detective who loses his hearing after an accident on duty. With his new role as a sign language interpreter for the department, Frank now has the mission of protecting Ava, a deaf woman who witnessed a double murder. The use of sign language is the key to the film's captivating nature, allowing for an impeccable connection between the main characters who, through their lack of hearing, make this suspense thriller have some really well-achieved moments and tension that is well managed by its director.

The good use of sound, with which the film gets an additional plus, makes the simple story take an interesting turn, without being extraordinary or novel, but for what the film proposes it is quite efficient, more so if we add the good work of its director who knows how to place the camera at the moment of exploiting the tension. Then we find the typical argumentative clichés of a script that plays it safe and without major daring, few deaths and little intelligence among the villains stand out, but the game you enter achieves its goal of fair, average and partial entertainment for a film that does not pretend to revolutionize everything, but rather to fulfill its original idea.

A cast that includes supporting actors such as Mark Strong, Mekhi Phifer and Michael Eklund help the film to have the level of commitment it deserves so that you, as a viewer, become hooked on the whole story that is being told to us.

A better bet than you might think, it won't be one of those that will make it into the top of the year, but it does have its charm that makes it more enjoyable than you might think or be carried away by the critics. It has its moments, it has a couple with chemistry and it has just the right level of tension that makes it totally enjoyable to watch, without discounting the message it seeks to convey, which is really the great power that the film has.

An entertaining thriller just do just that -- entertain. It should not present a paradox to the viewer, or do anything which makes it harder for the viewer to identify with the main character. Yet this film actually goes out of its way to do just that. On paper, all the boxes are checked. Brad Anderson is both prolific and successful at his craft. Kinnaman is one of those actors who is easy to relate to, and never gives a bad performance or disapponts. The story is obviously a riff on the Die Hard formula, and pretty hard to mess up as long as you remember to "set up" the action scenes in advance. Even with the checked boxes, the result is a letdown. Giving Kinnaman's character a literal handicap -- even to the point of having him repeatedly fiddle with his hearing aid -- makes it harder to relate to the main character. The Die Hard arc is not well developed, and the action scenes do not deliver on the "killbox" promise that the audience expects. Instead of leaving feeling entertained, one leaves with the feeling that this could have been better done. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

The Silent Hour starts with an intriguing premise, but quickly falls into the trap of predictability. While the performances are decent, the plot unravels in a way that's easy to foresee, with little to no surprises. The suspense, which is crucial for a thriller of this nature, feels underwhelming as the story progresses. Every twist can be spotted from a mile away, making the film less engaging than it could have been. It's not a bad watch if you're in the mood for something light and don't mind knowing exactly where the story is headed. Sadly, it just doesn't offer enough in terms of originality or tension to stand out.

Seeing Kinnaman among the cast was enough to make the decision to watch this movie. He did not disappoint, brought his A game, as usual, and did a more than decent job with the character and script he was given.

All in all this was not the movie of the century, as a matter of fact it would be hard to call it even the movie of the year. But quite honestly, looking at the poster and reading the film's summary, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting here, and the movie delivered exactly that. It was a story built on a well known, well used and overused formula, with a little twist (the good guys having hearing issues), and that's about it. I did not expect it to be incredibly original, and it wasn't. I expected it to have a few memorable moments, and it did have a few (the protagonist "acquiring" his hearing problem for one). I expected to see a few tired cliches, and they sure were right were you'd think they'd be. And in general, I expected to be entertained for a bit, and I was. The story had a good pace, the runtime was filled with actual action, not pointless fillers. No forced romantic plot lines/sex scenes, no overlong buildup of the starting situation, no monologues and cheesy emotions etc. Just a coherent story that held my interest and kept me engaged.

I wouldn't think that I would feel like re watching it anytime soon, or put it on my all-time-favourites list, but it filled an evening just fine. And with today's abundance of absolutely awful movies, that was just enough.

In Boston, homicide detective Frank Shaw (Joel Kinnaman) is chasing a criminal when he is hit by a car. He has a sensible hearing loss and eleven months later, his doctor tells him that he will become deaf in a few months. While the devastated Frank is drinking in a bar, his former partner and now narcotics detective Doug Slater (Mark Strong) asks Frank to help him in an investigation. He needs to interview Ava Fremont (Sandra Mae Frank), a deaf witness to the murder of a drug dealer, but the ASL translator is on vacation and not available for one month. Frank goes with Doug to Ava's apartment in an almost empty residence building and they learn that the residents have been evicted since the owner wants to renovate the building to rent the apartments for a higher class. Frank learns that Ava is a former drug addicted and finds Narcan in her bathroom cabinet. Ava delivers her cellphone to Doug with the footage of the murder, and they leave her place. While driving back home, Frank notes that he has forgotten his cellphone at Ava's apartment. He returns to her home and finds that a group of men led by the black Lynch (Mekhi Phifer) is hunting her down. Soon he learns that Lynch and the other men are corrupt cops that want to simulate an overdose in Ava to kill her. Further, Ava is not drug addicted and used drugs only when her grandmother died, and she was depressed. Now their only hope is to find a telephone and contact Doug Slater to save them.

"The Silent Hour" (2024) is an engaging and claustrophobic thriller with a cat and mouse game story. Joel Kinnaman performs the role of an honest police detective that is involved in the attempt to murder a witness by dirty cops. Sandra Mae Frank is deaf in real life and is comfortable in the role of the smart deaf witness that is saved by Frank Shaw. The plot is predictable and flaws when Ava discharges the pistol retrieved by Frank on the window, leaving them without a weapon again. Despite the flaws, this film is highly entertaining. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Not Available"