The Call

Direction
Cinematography
Acting
Screenplay
Score
1.8

Jordan Turner (Berry) is clearly a seasoned 911 operator as we see her fly through calls with ease and professionalism and colleagues ask her what the various codes are for differing emergencies. She’s obviously good at the job, but when she gets an emergency call from a girl who is experiencing an intruder she makes a decision that costs the girl her life. The trauma caused by the events mean that Jordan must step away from operational work and teach students instead, but when an emergency call comes in and a rookie fails to act she must step back into the fray and try save abducted girl Casey’s (Breslin) life.”

Halle Berry has not done anything of note since Monsters Ball, and that was twelve years ago, so don’t go expecting this to be a return to form because it’s not. She’s not incompetent in the role, but she’s not really given much to work with either. Michael Eklund is decent enough as the villain and is very creepy at times, but like Berry he is given little to work with. Breslin delivers the right amount of necessary freak out for an abducted girl and the interaction between herself and Berry works quite well and builds the right amount of tension until the third act when it all falls apart. With the ground work laid and all that tension built up the third act plays out like a bad episode of Criminal Minds. You’re more likely to find yourself laughing at what’s going on than anything else.

With a decent idea and cast in Berry and Breslin this could have been somewhat entertaining if it didn’t derail into utter absurdity in the final act. Don’t waste your time.