The Call

Cast of Characters:
Jordan Turner - Halle Berry
Casey Welson - Abigail Breslin
Officer Paul Phillips - Morris Chestnut
Michael Foster - Michael Eklund
Alan Denado - Michael Imperioli

Director - Brad Anderson
Screenplay - Richard D’Ovidio
Rated R for violence, disturbing content and some language

      There are approximately 188 million calls to the 911 Emergency Dispatchers each year. That’s at least the statistic given to us by the new 2013 film The Call, a high-concept thriller about a 911 operator trying to locate a kidnapped girl. Statistics aside, though, is this film worth you lightening your wallet down five to ten bucks?

      Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is 911 dispatcher who receives a call from a distressed girl whose house is being broken into. Jordan calmly gives the girl instructions to evade the criminal, but when the call disconnects, Jordan re-dials the number. The call ring tone alerts the criminal, and it’s this action from Jordan that unfortunately leads to the girl’s murder. After realizing what has happened, Jordan naturally is traumatized by the event. Despite being comforted over the ordeal by her boyfriend, Officer Paul Phillips (Morris Chestnut), Jordan feels she can no longer handle the stress that comes with handling emergency calls.

      Six months later, Jordan is no longer handling calls, but is now a trainer for 911 operators. While delivering training instructions to a batch of operating newbies, one of the rookie operators gets a distressed call from a girl named Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin). Casey states that she has been kidnapped at the mall and is in the trunk of a man’s car. Due to the fact that Casey is using a disposable cell phone, the operator is unable to trace the GPS location of the phone. Seeing that the operator is a rookie and is not handling the call well, Jordan - although reluctantly at first given her past - takes over the call.

      Technical error aside (It is, in fact, possible for 911 operators to trace GPS locations on even disposable phones), this was an entertaining thrill ride with some strong back and forth between Halle Berry’s operator and Abigail Breslin’s victim. Director Brad Anderson (who previously directed Christian Bale in the terrific The Machinist) delivers a fast paced, edge of your seat thriller for about three-fourths of the film, and I was prepared to give the film a solid recommendation... Then the ending showed up, and boy, does it commit a big screen writing no-no by having Berry’s character switch gears into the “take matters into her own hands” role. I don’t know much about protocol within 911 operating units, but I’m pretty sure Jordan Turner thinking she’s all of a sudden Clarice Starling may be against protocol. Whether it’s against protocol or not is beside the point. Writer Richard D’Ovidio had a solid, entertaining thriller within his hands and for whatever reason decides to take the ending down the “heroin solitarily saves the day” route. It’s a cheap cop-out of an ending, and given the concept and story that D'Ovidio had, you’d think he could come up with a more clever conclusion. What he ends up opting for is something you'd expect to see in some straight to DVD torture flick.

      Glaring critique aside, I’m still giving this film a mild recommendation. While it’s not worth rushing out and seeing right away, it’s still worth a watch. Aside from Michael Eklund's not quite believable portrayal of the kidnapper/serial killer, the performances are strong. Both Berry and Breslin have some nice, inspired moments together. Morris Chestnut has a solid supporting role as well playing a cop - unlike the detective he played in Identity Thief - that actually knows how to put two and two together, and director Brad Anderson strings together some intense, terrific thrills. The weakness is in the writing, but it’s still worth checking out once it’s released on disc or maybe even catching it as a matinee if nothing else is planned. I give The Call a B- (★★★).