200 Degrees

Ryan, (Eric Balfour) plays a man trapped in a steel room with large heat lamps and an intercom to communicate with him. He does not know how he got there or why he is trapped inside.

A voice starts to communicate with him demanding $1,000,000 be transferred into an account and he has two hours to do so. If not, the consequences are dire. This is the general premise of the film. I will not give away any more information to spoil it for potential viewers.

The General concept has been used many times over, and this film, albeit somewhat different, could have been much better. Throughout 90% of the film, the viewer has no idea who is doing this (or why) it is happening to Ryan. However, as much as there is an somewhat interesting twist at the end, if one pays close attention to detail, you can get a pretty good grasp of what is happening.

Another run-of-the-mill kidnap/torture film that attempts to keep you guessing the why's and how's. Balfour is pretty convincing as the victim but by no means is this one of his better performances.

The ending, as mentioned had a somewhat interesting twist but was not very good at all. If fact, it was bad! All to neat and tidy in its wrap-up and quite contrived.

I gave this film a generous "6" rating just because it kept my attention to the films end but don't expect a heart pounding thriller here. If you have 91 minutes to spare, you could do worse things with your time.

"200 Degrees" delivers a premise with potential: a man trapped in a kiln-like room, facing rising temperatures and moral dilemmas. Unfortunately, while the concept is intriguing, the execution leaves much to be desired.

The tension never quite reaches a satisfying peak. The acting, while adequate, struggles against a script filled with predictable twists and lackluster dialogue. Eric Balfour does his best to carry the film, but his performance feels constrained by the limited scope of the story.

Visually, the movie makes good use of its confined setting, but the pacing falters, often making the 91-minute runtime feel longer than it should. The psychological aspects are underdeveloped, leaving the viewer disconnected from the protagonist's plight.

While "200 Degrees" has moments of suspense, it never fully capitalizes on its premise, resulting in a thriller that feels more tepid than scalding. It's watchable, but not particularly memorable.

I found the premise of this film interesting but the execution of such could have been better. One cast film are always pretty good and the location here was also good. An industrial kiln that has been specifically created by the villain. In this we have ryan, who wakes up in an industrial kiln with no idea how it happened. A creepy voice very reminicent of saw comes on and wants him to do different things in order for him to be released otherwise the heat will be turned up. I liked this film it was not awful. But what I can't get past is how inacurate the logic is as this guy seems to touch evertthing without burning, but its a decent thriller still overall.

All I can say is that if the protagonist had been female, she would have almost immediately been stripped down to her underwear. This guy removes his jacket at the start and then remains fully clothed (socks and shoes included) all the way through. I can't get over the blatant double standards here - and before anyone thinks I'm being overly sensitive, we actually (completely unnecessarily) see tits! Incredible. The guy is in insane heat, gets soaked so is not only absolutely boiling but humid, and keeps all his clothes on. Then we see boobs because...? The woman could have had a bra on and we still would have known she was a prostitute.

I'm so incensed by this aspect of the film alone that I was too distracted by my ire to concentrate properly. Relatively interesting concept ruined by unabashed hypocrisy. Points for the setting as I really hate the heat so it did make me go "oooooooo" quite a few times (of course followed by "what kind of absolute cretin wouldn't take some of those clothes off? Oh yes, one who's not being objectified").

I stuck with it for about an hour but the lead guy was so unlikable that I really didn't care anymore by that point if he roasted alive or not and shut it off. Did he live or die by the end? Who knows, who cares?