The Hive, better known as Los Angeles’ 911 dispatch center, is buzzing with incoming calls of people in need. “911, what’s your call?” Jordan (Halle Berry) says calmly as she’s ready to take the next call. Not knowing that this call will literally be a life or death situation for a teenage girl whose house was being invaded by a psychopathic serial killer (Michael Eklund). But Jordan made one mistake that claimed the life of the young girl she was trying to save.
Six months later Jordan leaves the Hive floor and becomes a 911 dispatch trainer to alleviate the pressure and self-guilt of the murder. During one of the training sessions, a call comes in as Jordan passes an inexperienced dispatcher who becomes frantic and flustered at a teenage girl named Casey (Abigail Breslin) calling from the kidnapper’s trunk using a disposable phone that can’t be traced. Jordan instincts kick into 6th gear as she puts herself back into a situation that left her running scared.
Jordan tries her best to locate Casey, while giving her instructions to bring attention to the unmarked car. Throughout the string of suspenseful events that take place, Jordan and her love interest, police officer Paul Phillips (Morris Chestnut) race against the clock to zero in on Casey before it is too late.
“The Call” was released Friday, March 15, 2013 and grossed $17,100,000 its opening weekend, coming in number two at the Box Office. The film was directed by Brad Anderson and written by Richard D’Ovidio, starring Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut and Michael Eklund. The film’s run time was 94 minutes and released by TriStar Pictures and Stage 6 Films.
“The Call” was definitely suspenseful and made the audience jump at the right moments. Other than Halle Berry’s ridiculous wig, her performance was excellent and convincing. The movie became predictable over time, but still held the audience’s attention, until the let-down ending. I feel that the ending wasn’t well thought out and could have been more complex to give the film more depth. Even though Anderson took the easy way out, I still give the production an A-.
- Ashley Jacobs, Contributor
