The Call

The Call (2013) is really two films, and the second one is not as good as the first. Knowing that sets your expectations correctly. Jordan is an experienced 911 operator. A decision she makes on one call ends badly and she loses her nerve. Months later a kidnapped girl calls from the boot of a car. This is where the film is at its best. Almost all of it plays out over a phone line and Jordan has nothing to work with but sound. The tension comes from the constraint, and Halle Berry's performance works inside it. In the last thirty minutes the film puts the phone down and becomes an ordinary killer chase. Every criticism collected there and fairly so: the realism it built collapses in a single scene. The ending is separately controversial. It runs 96 minutes and moves fast. Good for: thrillers, abduction stories, and single location tension. Less good for: there is a torture room and violence against teenage girls, some of it shown directly. Anyone expecting the film to hold its nerve to the end will be disappointed.