Movie Review - Blackout

Blackout (2008)

Starring Amber Tamblyn, Aiden Gillen, and Armie Hammer

Directed by Rigoberto Castañeda

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

What can I say...at 2am in the morning, sometimes I just feel like watching a crappy thriller.  You got a problem with that?  One of these days I'm going to learn my lesson that it's just not worth the time, but until that day comes, you're saddled with reading about it (or not reading about it).  Nevertheless, Blackout has a perfectly solid premise that's actually executed directorially fine, but thanks to some unfortunate writing the thing just doesn't work in the end.

Simple premise:  Three people (tv actress Amber Tamblyn, Social Network-er Armie Hammer, and horrible Irish actor who can't cover up his accent and apparently was in The Wire Aiden Gillen) get stuck in an elevator in what is essentially an abandoned apartment complex.  All three have backstories that reveal how and why they happened to be stepping foot into the elevator at the moment that they did.  Said backstories will eventually reveal one of the three to be maniacal even though it's clearly apparent (and therein the film's downfall) from the opening minutes.  

Putting three people in an elevator and leaving them there could certainly make for a tense movie.  The "twist" that one of these people is not so nice is where the flick falters.  Made prior to the release of the similarly themed M. Night Shyamalan-produced Devil, Blackout doesn't contain the spiritual aspect that the other film espoused, but it certainly contains a person who is essentially an inhuman creature.  If only this wouldn't have been so blatant and obvious, this flick may have worked.  However, the "reveal" isn't the least bit revealing and the climactic moments just don't have the tension that they should.  [Although I will say that I was positively skeeved out by an odd sexual proclivity of one of the folks stuck in the elevator.]

Amber Tamblyn and Armie Hammer are actually decent here...nothing mind-blowing, but perfectly acceptable.  From his opening scene, however, Aiden Gillen was torturous to watch.  I don't know if it's because he was trying to cover up his Irish native tongue, but his line readings just completely took me out of the film.  Stilted and staccato, it was just not enjoyable in the slightest.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-