Cast: Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Bridget Moynahan Dir: Simon Brand Rating: 3/5Five men wake up in a locked warehouse in the middle of the desert. None of them remember who they are or how they came to be there.As they slowly begin to remember a start putting the pieces together they realise that they are in the middle of a kidnap plot.Two of them are William Coles Jr and Richard McCain, partners in real estate, the kidnapped and three are the kidnappers. But what they don’t know is who is who. With time running out before the rest of the kidnappers arrive they must work together in a bid to escape.Simon Brand is the first time writer and director of this move which may leave the audience expecting very little. However he has produced a low budget dialogue driven movie which is surprisingly compelling and content with its B movie status.
What works well for the film is it’s very strong cast, which includes Jim Caviezel (Passion of the Christ), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, Flags of our Fathers) and Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine), who manage to create confliction, tension and fear without them moving outside of the warehouse.
A movie like this is notorious for attracting lesser known actors it speaks volumes of the script that these well known actors all participate in this movie.
Along with the characters the audience too is trying to figure out who to trust. Every piece of information revealed changes the perception the audience has of the characters.
This is a very effective way of keeping the audience hooked as they went on the discovery with the cast and were just as confused in who to trust as they were as the roles of captives and captors constantly changed.
There is a story going on outside the warehouse, the police are questioning the wife of one of the kidnapped in a bid to discover and catch who is behind the plot.
While it is an attempt to give the audience more clues as to who is who and to escape from the claustrophobic surroundings of the warehouse it is the movie’s weakest points as what is going on between those locked in the warehouse is for more interesting.
It is a very claustrophobic movie which borrows heavily from Reservoir Dogs and Saw yet stands well alone.
It’s a movie which explores human emotion and the fight for survival as the group fight amongst themselves while discovering who they really are. Before making the choice of sticking with their new alliances or reverting back to their original roles.
Helen Earnshaw