Penthouse North

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?

Michelle Monaghan and Michael Keaton star in "Blindsided," a 2013 straight-to-video film coproduced by Keaton for reasons known only to him.

Monaghan plays a former photojournalist, Sara, who was blinded by a suicide bomber while covering a war and still suffers from PTSD. If she didn't suffer from it, she would have been by the time the action in this film finished.

On New Year's Eve, the man she is living with, Ryan (Andrew Walker) is killed by a former associate from whom he stole a fortune in diamonds. Sara has been out, and it takes her a while after she returns home to stumble across the body, and the perpetrator (Barry Sloane) is still in the apartment. He is joined by the brains of the organization, Hollander (Keaton) and together they try by various sadistic means to find out where the loot is.

This is really cliché-ridden claptrap, derivative, predictable, and how dare anyone compare it to Wait Until Dark. You know every move the villains are going to make. What's more, you know where the diamonds are hidden. You also know what the end of the film is going to be. It's all too obvious.

Michael Keaton does a terrific job, but this is a generic mean guy role. Michelle Monaghan does okay, but these are all generic characters there to serve the predictable action.

There were a lot of holes in this thing. First off, why not look for the diamonds in the apartment? Or a key to a safe deposit box? How do you know Sara knows where they are? Quite possibly she knows nothing of Ryan's past and therefore nothing about any theft. And what a place to hide them. If this had been shown in a theater, the entire place would be yelling out the hiding place.

Secondly - and this I really didn't understand - this is a 2013 release. Okay, Sara gets into a room and locks the door. She gets on her computer, which takes vocal commands. And she's going to send an email. Well, I hope the person is checking messages.

No cell phone with a quick connection to 911? A phone she can keep on so she can be found, should she not be able to get out her address? Though in the time it took her to get onto her email, she certainly could have.

The woman is blind, and all she has if she needs help is a computer where she can e-mail someone? We know she had one while she was out. I think someone physically challenged would have it on her at all times.

I can't go on. Skip this movie. Rent Wait Until Dark where an entire audience screamed OUT LOUD at one part. They would have screamed here too - at the box office for their money back.

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

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!

The storyline in "Penthouse North" was fairly generic and predictable, but it still made for an entertaining enough movie. However, it is not the type of movie that you watch more than once.

The story is about a war photographer by the name of Sara, who loses her eyesight while on assignment. Years later, living a reclusive life with her boyfriend, Sara comes home to find her boyfriend murdered and the killer still in the apartment.

Story-wise then "Penthouse North" wasn't particularly innovative or outstanding, but it was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be. It was adequately paced, but didn't really have many 'edge-of-your-seat' moments, which a good thriller should have.

What made the movie watchable was the acting performances of Michelle Monaghan and Michael Keaton.

There are far better and exciting thrillers available, but "Penthouse North" is still worth giving a chance. Who knows, it might just be what you have been looking for.