The Call

The first half of the film I'd genuinely give a 10/10, the second half would be more a 6/10.

The first forty five minutes had me utterly gripped and on the edge of my seat, it was exactly what you want from a thriller. The second half becomes a more bog standard thriller, dare I say it, it becomes somewhat silly, the ending is too much.

Berry is terrific, I am such a fan of hers, sadly her character transforms into something a little silly. The villain is rather good, I only wish we got to learn a little of his motivation, sadly they didn't explore it.

It's watchable. 8/10

I enjoyed this film quite a bit: it kept a good pace of tension which makes for a good thriller. The acting is good (no academy awards), and it did a good job of giving a glimpse into the operations of 911 call centers which is a fresh topic - and it did so without dragging the pace.

The main bad guy becomes ever more creepy as the plot progresses which helps build the tension. The ending takes an interesting twist which, in the moment, doesn't feel quite as out-of-character as others describe - mainly due to a good segue shot that probably took more than a few takes to get right.

The weak spots consist mainly of some CSI style technology leaps that only technology morons would buy into, and a single bit of clumsiness that just feels scripted. Unfortunately the CSI technology leaps are very popular in Hollywood (to my dismay) and the bit of clumsiness is key to the plot progression.

If one or two minor transgressions make you feel like you wasted your money, wait for it to show up on Netflix. If you enjoy a good edge of your seat thriller and can overlook the transgressions, go see it!

"The Call" is a tidy little thriller, modeled, in large part, on the movie "Speed." Halle Berry plays the Southern California 911 dispatcher who's in a race against the clock to rescue a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) locked in the trunk of a serial killer (Michael Eklund).

Director Brad Anderson keeps the action going at a breakneck pace, providing pulse-pounding, edge-of-the-seat suspense that helps us to overlook the stray inconsistency and implausibility that wander into the narrative, particularly towards the end (the movie doesn't entirely escape the Third Act curse common to the genre). There's also an unfortunate tendency towards the sadistic that spoils some of the fun.

The really distinctive feature is that writer Richard D'Ovidio has made Jordan, the dispatcher, a compelling, easily identifiable figure by emphasizing not only her strength and craftiness but her insecurity and self-doubt as she does her best to assist people in making it through sometimes unimaginable crises.

The movie is a bit overwrought at times (again, looking at you, last half hour) and it ultimately succumbs to too many serial-killer clichés, but "The Call" is a whole lot better than many of the more highly publicized, big-budget thrillers of recent times.

The movie started off strong with a great premise, great characters, and a great story. It was all extremely tense and clever. The character was also extremly sympathetic and well developed. It was actually one of the best thrillers I've ever seen and with such a high concept idea. But the third act- it was awful. I have no idea what the writers were thinking. It went from a perfectly good thriller to a cliche gore fest. The third act completely made no sense, erased all previous characters and their development, and dragged on for way too long. The longer it went on the more I hated the entire story arc. Seriously, it gets more ridiculous and ridiculous by the second- as id it was written by two different people. The final line in the movie is so cringey and awful as well. I would have preferred just "the Hive" setting for the entire film. What a disappointment.

Others have already told all in spoilers, so I'll just say a smart, capable woman who's very good at her job and has a cop for a boyfriend decides to throw her brain away and act incredibly dumb for the last 20 minutes of the movie. I was riveted until then.