[AMBER ALERT screens Friday November 2nd and Saturday November 3rd at 9:50 pm exclusively at Chagrin Cinemas.]
Review by Bob Ignizio
At this point, the “found footage”
gimmick has ceased to be fresh. In fact, it now seems well on its way
to becoming just another way of making a movie no more likely to
raise eyebrows or draw attention than any other. Originally used
almost exclusively by low budget horror films like THE BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT, THE LAST
EXORCISM, and PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY, the technique has
branched out of late with the sci-fi/superhero flick CHRONICLE
and the teen sex comedy PROJECT X. Now
with AMBER ALERT
co-writer/director Kerry Bellessa has given us a found footage
suspense thriller.
As is
the case with most found footage films, AMBER ALERT
has to create a situation where it makes sense for its protagonists
to be video taping themselves. In this caseNate (Jasen Wade) and Samantha (Summer Bellessa), two long time platonic friends (although Nate obviously has a crush on Samantha) are making an
audition tape for a reality show with Samantha's mostly unseen younger
brother operating the camera. While out driving around
acting goofy, Nate notices an electronic sign for an amber alert. He
then notices that the car in front of them is a grey Honda, just like
the one mentioned in the alert. Samantha is dismissive at first, but once the license plate number is verified, she becomes insistent
that they do something to help.
Calling
the police is the first step, but that's not good enough for Samantha, who
is worried the cops won't show up in time. Now the two switch roles, with Nate insisting it's probably just a divorced dad who kept his kid a little bit past his allotted visitation time, while Samantha is certain it's a serial killer or child molester. After a good bit of the
annoying arguing of the sort that seems mandatory in these found
footage films,Samantha gets her way and Nate agrees to tail the car,
leading them deeper and deeper into potential danger.
The
problems with AMBER ALERT
are essentially the same that one finds in a lot of found footage
films. First and foremost, Nate and Samantha are both kind of snarky and
annoying, which makes it less than a joy to spend a solid hour and
twenty minutes in their company. There's also the usual long
stretches of inane nothing that are apparently necessary to create
the illusion we're watching genuine home video footage.
Aside
from those issues inherent in the film's technique, there's also the
“idiot plot” aspect often found in the thriller genre. As
originally defined by James Blish (and popularized by Siskel and
Ebert), that's, “any plot containing problems which would be solved
instantly if all of the characters were not idiots.” Certainly
some good movies have been made using the idiot plot, but you need
first rate direction and tight editing for that to happen, neither of
which are present here. AMBER ALERT
is at best an okay film of its kind, and now that the found footage gimmick has
become so ubiquitous, okay just isn't good enough. 2 out of 4 stars.
I didn't know James Blish coined "idiot plot." I do hope Siskel & Ebert (especially science-fiction fan Ebert) gave him due credit somewhere along the way. The Cleveland Movie Blog is educational!
ReplyDeleteI used to think it was Siskel and/or Ebert who came up with it, but in his 'Little Movie Glossary' (a book every movie lover should own), Ebert attributes it to Blish. So yes, Ebert did give credit where it was due.
ReplyDelete