Bypassed thriller was perhaps a little too familiar to break out commercially (suggested ad copy: Just When You Thought Variations On DIE HARD Were Over!), but it’s well-handled by director Brad Anderson and writer Dan Hall along with . . . well, by just about everyone. (Other than the main villain who’s a lousy actor.) But the main reason to have a look is for lead actor Joel Kinnaman who’s upped his game in gravitas and empathy to new levels. A police detective in crisis after being injured in the prologue (an excitingly staged chase between parked & crisscrossing trucks), Kinnaman is told his manageable hearing loss will soon plunge at unexpected moments in & out of complete deafness. On medical leave, he’s called back to work by his ex-partner to act as interpreter for a deaf witness in a murder case with his admittedly barely adequate deaf ‘signing.’ Young, pretty, an obvious romantic set-up (nicely played by Sandra Mae Frank , the leads perfectly paired),what no one yet knows is that the killers are bent cops with a leak into the investigation. After that, it’s all hide and seek on ten floors in a building that’s already being cleared out for demolition. Close calls; elevator shaft getaways; window ledges for quick switches; you get the idea. With tension exponentially raised by communication problems (phones & hearing problems) as well as the expected gunplay; most twists staying within the bounds of believability. But the main pleasure comes watching this Joel play with the assured dignity and modest heroism of another Joel, that underrated Golden Age Hollywood star Joel McCrea.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: McCrea was at his peak around WWII, but for a comparison here, try his superior remake of the Walsh/Bogart classic HIGH SIERRA/’40; Westernized as COLORADO TERRITORY/’49, also with Walsh calling the shots. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/12/colorado-territory-1949.html
No comments:
Post a Comment