Director: Dan Tondowski
Year: 2019
Country: South Africa/France
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Plot:
Heading out to a concert, a group of girls hook up with a pair of guys only to realize the two have stolen the car and must not only deal with the escalating situation of extracting themselves from the car but deal with the ruthless owner of the car who have tracked them down to retrieve it.
This was a problematic but still entertaining enough thriller. The main element that works for this one is the actual incident that sets this in motion as it's all quite fun. The accident on the road, instigated through a rather innocuous reason, is an incredibly vicious and brutal sequence that's handled incredibly well as it tackles a pretty convincing crash scenario with several fun camera angles to cover the incident and then spending tons of time dealing with the aftermath. It's all incredibly realistic and gets you involved in the sequence pretty easily which is quite enjoyable overall.
As well, the fact that a large majority of the film is centered on the realistic scenario of trying to get themselves out of the vehicle and get help is a large part of what's on tap here. With plenty of exciting and actually rational motivations throughout here, these scenes come off well and have a generally natural escalation of suspense with the various activities throughout here having several big complications that would normally develop hamper the situation. From the shock of getting out of the incident alive to getting themselves clear of the rubble and then how to call for help while they're trapped inside, this section of the film has so much to really like and prop this one up overall.
That said, there are some issues with this one. One of the main problems is the fact that the entire accident that gets them involved is clearly at their decision-making skills that it's somewhat hard to sympathize with them. Not only clearly lying to their mother with them not going on the desired route to the festival but then not having reliable backup to ensure they get there and being forced to rely on the off-chance of catching a ride is just plain idiotic especially with the manner in which they meet up. Managing to go alongside that is the equally troubling nature of their true nature once they're stuck together as the entire situation is way too contrived and setup to get them into this position.
The other troubling factor with this one is the fact that it takes way too long to get to the point of the hunter coming after them. While all of this is incredibly realistic and thrilling with how they get excavated from the crashed car, these actions severely limit the amount of time it can utilize it's plot of the car-owner coming back to take revenge on them for stealing it. This action-movie style of play, complete with a machine-gun toting helicopter, bare-knuckled fist-fighting and the emerging threat of a conspiracy about the ownership just seem tacked on as if from another film entirely which makes for a troublesome time believing this after the rest of the film had done so well to stay grounded in reality with their struggle to get out alive. Otherwise, there isn't much else to dislike here.
Overview: ***/5
Despite an issue or two here with some minor problematic areas, overall there's not much to dislike with this one as there's so much enjoyment to be had with the other ares involved here. This one is decidedly only for those that enjoy things on the thriller side of the fence or the curious while others who are looking for a more complete experience should heed caution.
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