After enduring the Hollywood blandness that was The Darkness, it makes us happy to see director Greg McClean get back to his bloody roots and make another good flick.
We love his Wolf Creek series, and while The Belko Experiment may be a totally different kind of animal altogether, it's a testament to the man's no holds barred, visceral style.
Good on ya, mate.
Maybe directing a movie that someone else wrote, especially a talented guy like James Gunn, was the ticket for him.
The Belko Corporation is a wealthy company that offers plenty of perks to its employees: comprehensive salaries; housing; a company car; and a free tracking chip that gets implanted in their head, in case they're kidnapped. That last one is particularly important at the Bogota, Colombia office, because it's common for employees of big companies to be kidnapped for ransom.
ALSO, THERE'S ROMANCE. |
THESE GUYS LOOK READY. |
It ends well for no one.
SOME CORPORATIONS JUST WANT TO WATCH THEIR EMPLOYEES BURN. |
It's basically a morality play of sorts, asking the question "How far would you go to ensure your own survival?" Could you kill the work friends that you've grown close to over the course of a year? I guess the answer to that question, as horrible as it may be, is yes: you're going before me, sorry. But it's not an easy thing for many of the movie's characters (aside from a few skeevy bastards) to navigate, and that very conundrum plays out in intense fashion.
John Gallagher Jr. is the lead here, but his performance is overshadowed by great supporting turns by his veteran cast mates. Anytime we get to see John C. McGinley on screen is a treat for us. The guy is one of the best character actors out there, and he's particularly good at playing menacing, which he does here brilliantly. Tony Goldwyn makes for an excellent heavy as well, and Adria Arjona was a great heroine.
***BEWARE ENDING SPOILERS***
Our biggest gripe about the movie is that the ending felt a little flat. Sure there's the obligatory set-up for a sequel which was kinda cool, but the reveal of "The Voice", and his explanation as to what the experiment was all about, felt like some half-baked bullshit. There should have been an actual point to the experiment, and not just some lame "we wanted to see what you'd all do" bullshit.
***END SPOILERS***
FEW DO INTENSITY AS WELL AS THIS GUY DOES. |
NOT EVEN THE COFFEE POTS ARE SAFE! |
MUY CALIENTE. |
As sly as Melonie Diaz was at hiding, and escaping notice throughout the movie, we really expected her to make it... not be shot in the damn head "Departed" style. Gah!
***END SPOILERS***
AND WHY WAS MICHAEL ROOKER'S PART SO DAMN SMALL? |
It's easily worthy of your rental dollars.
B+
The Belko Experiment is available on VOD now.
Adria Arjona y Melonie Diaz y Mikalea Hoover son hotties ardientes.
Oh My Fucking God!!!!!?!?!!?
ReplyDeleteI watched this a few weeks ago. Holy shit this movie was fucked up.
And yeah, if I thought that voice was serious, I would kill me a couple of the old ones off. But the whole thing is that I think no matter what, they only wanted one left at the end. So I think they assumed that one or maybe less than like 5 of them would have made it to the end, if they didn't blow their devices first. I do like how the good guy tricked them all in the end, not saying how here.