First Hit: A very taut thriller that captured the intenseness of being a 911 operator.
Keeping one’s emotional detachment in place when someone else’s world is falling apart is a talent, especially when they are relying on you to save them.
That is the life of a 911 phone specialist. Keeping their composure while guiding someone through a tough situation would be difficult. 911 personal also get people who call them for ridiculous things like lost keys. This film focuses on Jordan (Halle Berry) who gets a call from a young girl named Leah who is home alone and someone is breaking into her house, she calls 911 and gets Jordan.
As the perpetrator finds Leah, he grabs the phone from Leah and tells Jordan in response to her statement “please don’t hurt her”, “it’s already done". The girl isn’t found until they uncover her buried and dead. The whole experience affects Jordan more than she wanted and changes jobs from being on the phone to teaching others about how to be on the phone.
While taking a group through the call center, a novice gets a call from a young girl, Casey (Abigail Breslin) who is being abducted. The novice hands the phone to the more senior Jordon and the real thriller begins. The scenes of Jordan and her call center mates were very well done because of the job they share, the scenes came across deeply touching given what they share.
Berry was very strong and exhibited great angst and intensity as her part unfolded. Breslin was very good as the captured girl who wanted, in the end, to stay alive. Michael Eklund (as Michael Foster) was perfectly and weirdly intense as the kidnapper. The scene of him waiting at the stop light for the signal to change was amazing. The audience sees his mouth and jaw clicking and clenching, making small noises, - perfect. Richard D’Ovidio wrote a very intense and strong script while Brad Anderson’s direction kept it taut.
Overall: Well done.