Sometimes, a film is one scene away from being great. In the case of The Call, the last scene is so out of sync with the rest of the story that the film suffers.
Jordan is a 911 operative at the top of her career. One simple mistake during a high stakes call shakes her so hard she asks to be removed from the actual call table. While training a new group of operatives, Jordan is put back at the desk for a second attempt to save a young teen from a kidnapping.
The Call builds a large amount of tension out of a very odd conceit. The film jumps back and forth between the control room with all the 911 operatives and the teenage girl calling for help. Everything is told in tightly framed close-ups that focus the eye on important details for the story. The presentation is slick and the quick cuts between the different players really elevate the story into something special.
The acting is a great help. Halle Berry has found a comfortable home in thrillers recently (she stole the show in Cloud Atlas with her 1970s journalism/espionage story) and The Call showcases what she does best. Her mastery of facial expressions is unmatched by her peers. She lends a believable sense of anxiety, anger, frustration, and fear to Jordan's every decision in the film. A film shot with this many close-ups needs an expressive actor in this role and Berry alone is worth watching for.
Abigail Breslin as the main kidnapping victim is strong, as well. She does not have the advantage of location changes and an active villain like most teens starring in this kind of film. Breslin is trapped in the trunk of a car, illuminated by a cellphone and forced to contort her body while panicking to bust out tail lights and flag down passing cars. It's a thankless role--a foil for Jordan's anxiety and a damsel in distress wrapped in one--but Breslin takes every moment she can to expand the flat character into something believable.
For so much of The Call, the story is unpredictable in the best way possible. There are so many variables in play that you just don't know who will hurt or help the search for the missing girl. Then you reach the final scene and the only thing causing harm is the storyteller.
Screenwriter Richard D'Ovidio adapts his own story (with Nicole D'Ovidio and Jon Bokenkamp) and doesn't know when enough is enough. The film clearly ends two minutes before the credits roll. The story is resolved for better or worse and no question is left unanswered. Then there's a stinger totally out of place with such a stylish, modern thriller. It's a twist straight out of a 1970s grindhouse film and the story deserves so much more.
The Call works beautifully until that final scene. It's perhaps a bit too small in scope to appeal to everyone, but what works really works. That final scene kills the momentum of the film but is mercifully so short that it can't ruin the entire experience.
Rating: 6/10
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