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Consider this another Kaya Scodelario film which leads you to wonder why she isn’t more selective with the roles she chooses?
Characters & Story
It all begins with two teens in love, Kelly (Kaya Scodelario) and Mark (Daniel Boyd) and a mother named Lynn (Julie Summers), who thinks her boy is too good for Kelly. However, as Mark’s home is invaded by intruders, who tie up him, his mom, as well as his father, Kelly is left as the sole one who can possibly save everyone. That is, if one of the kidnappers, Callum (Ed Skrein) doesn’t end up finding her, and possibly killing her.
Praise
The first 45 minutes are so boring that you’d probably need to be in a theater to stay focus, once Kelly begins interacting with the kidnappers, meaning being caught and fighting against them, things get interesting. If only because there is less sleep-inducing drama and the type of action which, for a few moments, make you believe something interesting may happen. Which isn’t to say Kelly using a crossbow to take out some of the kidnappers isn’t entertaining, but with these handful of trained professionals getting taken down by someone like Kelly so easily, and quickly, it sort of takes away from the jolt of adrenaline.
Criticism
While I certainly haven’t seen every last production Scodelario has been in, I do feel sometimes that while she picks rather interesting projects, not too many of them have the type of script which can be considered consistently good. This movie for example, for a good 30 minutes, is all about the kidnappers talking due to their leader slowly dying, and them worrying if the 2nd part of their plan may work. Which, being that not a single one of the kidnappers seem that interesting, doesn’t really capture your attention.
But the negatives don’t end there. For while part of the praise was when Kelly starts facing off with the kidnappers, there comes the issue of them being stupid enough, especially Callum, to be duped by a girl who we aren’t told has any sort of special training. I mean, the fact she wasn’t caught so many times, then placed in bondage, and in one or two cases killed, is so ridiculous that it goes beyond suspension of disbelief. To the point, it doesn’t make her becoming a sort of badass cool, but almost as comedic as when Macaulay Culkin took down those two robbers in Home Alone.
Then, to add insult to injury, the ending makes hardly any sense but I’ll leave that part for interested parties to watch, and perhaps discuss.
Overall: Skip It
So far it seems in which Scodelario is the marquee star are something to more so be wary about than excited. For while films like The Maze Runner have done some good for her filmography, it seems she has yet found her niche when it comes to possibly being the reason for you to buy a ticket. Hence the Skip It label for while this thankfully isn’t a film which brings Effy nostalgia, I don’t think it establishes who Scodelario is as an actress either.
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