What if you heard the sound of an intruder? What if you heard the cries of a victim? What if your mistake cost someone their life? These daunting questions were asked in the movie trailer for the recently released film The Call.
After viewing The Call movie previews on TV and online, I anticipated being the first in line to view it on the big screen. When the day came, my excitement could not be contained, and I waited to purchase tickets.
The movie did not disappoint with a cast anchored by Halle Berry as Jordan Turner, the 911 operator, and Abigail Breslin as Casey Welson, the abducted teenager.
In the film, Jordan takes many frantic phone calls from victims of theft, violence, and kidnapping – the most frantic calls. When Jordan makes a mistake, which eventually leads to the kidnap and murder of the first main victim, Leah Templeton, she’s not sure if she can return to her duties afterwards. During Jordan’s time giving a job tour to newcomers, a fellow employee has trouble dealing with a distressed call from Casey Welson and asks for her help. With hesitation, Jordan takes on the job. Casey claimed to have been kidnapped in a mall parking garage and is now in a car trunk somewhere on the freeway armed only with an untraceable prepaid cell phone. While both Jordan and Casey calm each other down, the chase to find her begins.
And what a chase it was. The film mainly takes place while Casey is trapped in the trunk. I applaud the director for his use of many different camera angles, they really helped the audience, including myself, feel as claustrophobic and panicked as Casey did, and it added to the realness of the movie.
The danger continued to escalate as the seemingly psychotic kidnapper Michael Foster, played by familiar faced Michael Eklund. Eklund portrayed his character perfectly, adding a strong sense of eeriness and suspense, keeping me on the edge of my seat wondering what he would do next. And the fact that the audience I watched the film with gasped, jumped and cried at all the right moments, made it even better.
The emotion used in the film was portrayed flawlessly by Berry and Breslin. It made me appreciate the duties real 911 operators have and all they have to encounter by simply answering the phone. The power duo represented women who actually can be strong in life or death situations.
The situations both women faced brought quite the scare to me. I’m not sure if I could react as quickly or efficiently as they did. Both faced the challenge of simply ‘do I give up? Or do I keep fighting?’ when dealing with Michael’s horrific plans.
If you’re looking for a nail biting, seat gripping, jaw dropping, eye watering movie, this is the one to watch. Besides, if you had a chance to go beyond the call, what would you do?