Movie Review - The Call

The Call (2013)

Starring Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, Roma Maffia, and Michael Imperioli

Directed by Brad Anderson

I'm wary to even post this review saying that the Halle Berry-starring The Call is actually decent simply because I know full well that it's a piece of schlock cinema produced by the WWE (that's World Wrestling Entertainment...you know, the same people that bring you fake wrestling on tv).  It's exploitative and, at times, a bit uncomfortable to watch in its ceaselessly violent children-in-peril nature, but it moves along at such a rapid pace that it doesn't overstay its welcome and ends up being a perfectly acceptable B-movie which is all it ever wanted to be in the first place.

Oscar winner Halle Berry is Jordan Turner, a 911 operator who takes a call one evening from a teenage girl whose home is being invaded.  After a series of unfortunate events, the girl is kidnapped and later turns up dead.  With Jordan's actions playing a part in the devastating event, she recuses herself from taking any further calls and begins a job teaching new recruits at the call center.  One day, however, a call is received from another young girl named Casey (Abigail Breslin) who has also just been kidnapped and stuffed into the trunk of her attacker's car.  Casey, armed with a cell phone, dials 911 and ends up speaking with Jordan.  Desperate to seek redemption for her earlier actions, Jordan finds herself doing all she can to help Casey escape.

Ultimately, the story is simple and could easily have been made into a tv movie on Lifetime.  Perhaps that's where it belongs as well, but considering this is now out of theaters and available to view at home, I can't deny that I had a fun time with it.  Had I shelled out $10 bucks I may have been disappointed, but as a rental, it's better than it really deserves to be thanks in large part to director Brad Anderson's quick pace and nice turns from Berry and Breslin.  Yes, it's moderately trashy, but I don't think there was ever any pretense about this being high class stuff.  It entertained me, kept me interested in the story, and I'm not sure I could've asked for more from something like this.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-