"Caught, by a secret"

Title: Brake

Year: 2012

Genre: Crime, Thriller

Director: Gabe Torres

Writer: Timmothy Mannion

Runtime: 92min

Cast: Stephen Dorff, Chyler Leigh, JR Bourne, Tom Berenger

Produc.: Walking West Entertainment, La Costa Production

In Brake, Jeremy Reins (Stephen Dorff) suddenly awakens to realize that he has been trapped in a strange glass box, illuminated by a red light, and that, no matter where he sees, everything is completely dark and unknown. Jeremy does not know his location on the map or how he got there.

Two years ago I was able to see Buried (2010), from spanish director Rodrigo Cortes and starring Ryan Reynolds. In it, Reynolds was Paul Conroy, an innocent citizen who, in need of money had taken the truck driver job in Iraqi territory to transport soldiers, not involving this him in the battle. Still, things had come to go wrong and now he awoke in a wooden coffin, who knows where, with a cell phone as his only resource.

Coming now to the present, yesterday I could enjoy myself with another very similar proposal, but for my taste, far superior in a plot level. In Brake, Stephen Dorff has a wider range of tools, and while his image is what dominates the screen in 99% of the time, the action, suspense and drama that are built around him are such that one has no time to get bored.

Initially, the concept is exactly the same as in its predecessor. A guy who has been locked in a small space and tries to escape, and a language presented under the only alternative of showing the character and his claustrophobic prison from all the possible angles of interest. Something nothing new by now, if we think about Phone Booth (2002) or 127 hours (2010). However, unlike its more direct predecessor, here the rhythms are much better achieved and no scene becomes too slow. Every event that occurs around somehow affects inside the box, so that we know that Jeremy, even from his enclosure, also suffers from the troubles out there. Even when there is a gunfight, a stray bullet passess through the glass and hits him in one leg.

One may find some resemblance to any of the installments of the popular horror franchise Saw (2004), although in this case, the use of the clock is never out of place either. As soon as Jeremy wakes up, he immediately realizes about the existence of a counter, located outside the windows, just above him. And then he finds, located next to him (but, on his side) a radio with an intercom. It will not be dificult for him to see that, whenever the numerical count reaches zero means that something else is going to happen, and that with every countdown, new communication possibilities are at his extent. What Jeremy has to do is to find a good frequency and talk to the right person, if he wants to get out alive. Meanwhile, he will have to discern why they are torturing him like his.

At one point, Jeremy gets the answer to his biggest question, but, this does not mean that things would stop getting more complicated, as he faces certain obstacles which prevent him from fulfilling with what he has been asked to.

Finally, and speaking of the end, I can only say that I have rarely seen anything like it. When one is expecting for something to occur and it ends up going the other way around, more surprising and original, is when one more realizes about the value of a good plot.

My rating: 8/10

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"Evil wears a suit"

Title: Meeting Evil
Year: 2012
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Writer: Chris Fisher, Thomas Berger (based on his novel)

Runtime: 89min

Cast: Luke Wilson, Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Bibb, Peyton List, Muse Watson, Tracie Thoms

Produc.: Louisiana Entertainment Screen Services - L.E.S.S, Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA), Stage 6 Films

In Meeting Evil, John (Luke Wilson) is a despondent family man who, after arriving home after being fired, is visited by a stranger named Richie (Samuel L. Jackson) who, although seems to only need help with his car, the truth is that he plans much more than that.

John comes home, depressed and unemployed, wanting to kill his sorrows in a whiskey. As soon as he sees his wife he sends the children to their room before beginning to discuss. This is one of those situations where, against an impotent husband and financial problems, she is unable to smile, instead recriminating him his inability to be functional to the cause. Man and woman discuss a little bit and then Joanie (Leslie Bibb) leaves for a walk with the kids.

Next, John hears the bell and opens the door. What he finds is a color person, dressed like him, but with a black hat, and who prompts him a hand with his car. In John remains the same side as before and he is unable to change it for the good neighbor´s face, even though, at the insistence, he decides to help. The thing is easy. He must push while the other guy tries to turn it on. John sets, then, after the car and begins to pry, but not much because he is just one guy. Despite this, the worst comes from Richie that, who knows if he is maybe waiting for rain to come to try turn it on. A little girl that looks at them from close sees how Richie has suddenly opened the bag, in addition to holding a revolver. Richie, who is also aware of her presence, decides to abort.

The picture that Richie shows to John is of the typical good citizen, polite and discreet, who knows the laws and likes to comply them, that does not interfiere with anybody and does not like to be offended. But it seems that he is easily offended. It is also the image of a man who insists once again, this time inviting him for a drink. That's the least he can do as to thank him.

Without going into too revealing details, Meeting Evil reminds movies like The Orphan (2009) or Evil Angel (1993), both concerning people of false cordiality, which were actually demons, and both also, with almost identical endings.

Unintentionally, John ends up being absorbed by the world of pure madness that inhabits his lunatic traveling companion, who committes atrocities to right and left, without his hostage finding it out or being able to do something about it. Is the difference of personalities, both ends of a same line, what gives the film its most attractiveness with, on the one side a family man scared and unsure, and unable to get rid of this nightmare, and on the other, a man who is not at all sane, who thinks the world belongs to him and that the living beings that inhabit it are just toys for his own use. All this description of characters sounds pretty nice, and could have been better exploited if it had not fallen into old formulas.

Samuel L. Jackson gives us a very well-rounded interpretation as that sort of villains one would never want to come across in a corner. However, there is not one of his criminal movements that has not been already seen. He even pronounce one of those phrases that abound in the psychopaths, which in this case says something like, "God has already done the world an evil place and all I do is clean of clogging." (I put in my own words the concept conveyed by the actor in character).

Also, like in a thousand other films, the hostage´s supposed best friend ends up being a second complication. Frank (Muse Watson) is a police lieutenant who behaves inconsistently, and who, very stubborn, blames John for a slaughter in a service station without bothering to find out if he is not maybe, actually innocent. Something similar is what happens between Joanie and police Latisha Rogers (Tracie Thoms), primarily due to a director/writer miss. In his attempt to write intelligent and non explanatory parliaments, has ended up creating an unnecessary confrontation between the two women, by not allowing Joanie clarify exactly how is her marriage like. The communication problems lead Rogers to reach to conclusions so diverted from the right that feels like hitting her, and hence that Joanie deserveldy insults her. With this, the secondary conflicts we see are very forced and without no reason to be.

Then, there is a a matter between John and a sexy ex-girlfriend or lover, Tammy (Peyton List), which is never very clear. Richie takes this matter to John's house, exposing it to Joanie at dinner, at whom also makes some suggestions about why, indeed, he chose John for his ordeal. The problem is that all this remains unfinished, and where one could think that we would see some revelation or twist, nothing happens at all. Only, that we see to increase the level of tension and anxiety in a troubled marriage, when neither party knows what to believe about the other.

Ultimately, the film ends without any novelty, where the resolution is visible and not very promising, from very early.

My rating: 6/10

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