Director: Greg McLean
Year: 2017
Country: US/Colombia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Working in an office high-rise, the workers of a multinational corporation in Colombia finds themselves forced to participate in a social experiment by their employers forcing them to kill a number of the other employees and sets off on a crazed series of encounters to follow the instructions.
Review:
This here was quite the enjoyable and exciting effort. Most of what makes this one such a fun film is tied into the initial concept of what's happening and how this one goes about letting that idea get played out. Having set up the whole process of the experiment to be carried out through the employees in a forced method of mass-chaos comes off rather nicely as the main plotline, and the idea is quite novelly attempted here with the use of tactics that are set in place by the company turned around on everyone else. The manner in which it turns around and everyone brings their own biases into the equation following the freakout is where this one scores nicely by being able to form the different groups for their individual course of action causes this one to be rather fun and enjoyable with the manner in which it descends into that form of chaos.
With this one spouting off commentary about humanity and the human condition in the situation, it develops some really enjoyable elements with how they tackle their orders, which gives this one some of it's finest action scenes here. The initial sequence of forcing people to line up and get shot execution-style before the release of the group as a mad dash of swarming patrons in a hail of gunshots in the panic of everybody running for safety is quite impressive, as well as the later showings of the people running wild throughout the building forced to partake in the secondary part of the experiment regarding all-out warfare between those left alive. These here really force this one along in terms of selling itself on its main premise nicely which ups the craziness and the action considerably and making for a rousing final half here of this one engaging in plenty of brutal methodologies to give this one some solid gory kills.
The cast here is decent and does help this along. John Gallagher Jr. is decent enough as Mike Milch, the lone dissenter in the group trying to restore a sense of humanity into the situation. His points about questioning the orders being given are logical and trying to keep everyone's head about them makes his eventual descent into madness like the others quite fun. Tony Goldwyn is a fantastic slimy villain as Barry Norris, the leader of the group trying to comply with the orders. There's something fun to watch about him doing the vile actions against his coworkers as he continually degrades into accepting more primitive actions as time goes on which helps to make him a truly engaging villain. His right-hand man Wendell Dukes, played by John C. McGinley, is worthwhile enough as a follow-up henchmen to overcome who's imposing and ruthless in the right manner which makes him a memorable presence. The rest of the cast is fine enough and not really that bad one way or another as these here are the film's better qualities while there are a few flaws to be found here.
The main issue to be had here is the complete and total lack of purpose behind what the game is actually supposed to entail or prove. Not only is the answer taken away from us at the right moment to find out, but there's little point in setting this one up which makes this one seem a little at a loss as for what's supposed to happen. As well, there's also the fact that this one just takes way too long to get going as the film's constant spouting off about the human condition and what the groups are trying to accomplish to get everyone out that it takes about an hour to get going with its central premise about people taking each other out in the office building, and that goes through such a small part of the film that it can be a disappointment. Alongside the overuse of gun-play in a horror film, these here are what hold it down.
Overview: ** 1/2/5
Despite a few minor missteps along the way that combine to lower this more than it really should, this was quite the appealing and enjoyable effort in the right circumstances. Give this a shot if you're entertained by these types of efforts or are curious about the premise, while those that can't handle this type of effort should heed caution.
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