The Call

Plot synopsis:
Jordan (Halle Berry), a Los Angeles 911 operator, takes a call from Leah Templeton (Evie Thompson), a pretty blonde teen. A man has broken into Leah's house. Jordan dispatches officers to her house, and Leah hides; the man seems to be leaving. Then the call cuts out, and, without thinking, Jordan hits the redial button. The intruder pauses when he hears the phone ring once and then stop - Leah answered it, and now she hears him returning to the room where she hides. The man finds Leah, and he takes the phone. Jordan begs him not to hurt Leah, but he tells her, "It's already done." Leah screams, and the call ends.In the wake of Leah's disappearance and the subsequent discovery of her mutilated body, Jordan suffers a breakdown. Though her colleagues tell her to move on, she no longer trusts her judgment. Six months later she has become a teacher at the 911 operator headquarters.Casey (Abigail Breslin), a carefree blonde teen, leaves a mall. She has two cell phones: her own smart phone and the prepaid cell phone her best friend Autumn left behind when she ditched her at the food court. A maroon sedan almost hits Casey in the parking garage, and she drops her smart phone. The driver jumps out and apologizes, but within seconds he has wrapped his hands around Casey's mouth and body. He suffocates her until she passes out.Jordan leads her latest class through the "hive," the room where the operators take calls. She stops to introduce the students to a new 911 operator, but the field trip takes a frightening turn when the new operator answers a call from Casey. The latter found her friend's prepaid cell phone, and she's calling from the car trunk where her abductor has stashed her. Jordan quickly takes over, and when Casey cries she will die, Jordan's old anxieties rear their head. She quickly regains composure and calms Casey down so she can learn more information about Casey's location - prepaid cell phones lack GPS chips, so the police and Jordan have no way of knowing where the moving car is. Dozens of police officers, including Jordans old flame Paul, mobilize to find Casey.By talking to Casey, Jordan figures out: the car is on a highway. It is an older model, the driver was a white man in his thirties, and there are several cans of paint in the trunk. Casey finds a shovel, too, and panics until Jordan tells her to kick out one of the taillights. After knocking out the taillight, Casey sticks her hand through the hole and attracts the attention of another driver. The woman calls 911, and she gives the operator her location and the cars plates (which turn out to have been switched). Unfortunately, the woman pulls forward to see the driver, and when he notices, he swiftly exits the freeway.Next, Jordan tells Casey to open the paint and pour it out of the taillight hole, thereby leaving a trail. Alan Denado (Michael Imperioli) notices the mess and alerts the driver, and the drivers shifty behavior arouses his suspicions. Caseys kidnapper pulls into an empty parking lot and flips out at her when he sees the mess she has caused. He decides to drug Casey with chloroform, and while hes bent over in the trunk, Alan Denado appears and asks if he needs help. The kidnapper behaves even more weirdly, and Denado pretends to leave, but in actuality he tries to call 911. The kidnapper attacks Denado, smashes the phone, and beats the would-be rescuer with a shovel. His bottle of chloroform breaks in the process he leaves it in the parking lot and he freaks out even more before stealing Denados car.Casey wakes up in the trunk and freaks out when she sees Denado. Then Denado awakens and begins to scream. Casey begs him to stop, but the kidnapper hears the commotion, and this time when he pulls over he makes sure to kill Denado. Jordan, still on the line, instructs Casey to find Denados wallet and identification. The officers find the kidnappers abandoned car. Paul notices the chloroform bottle and has it dusted for fingerprints. Back in the trunk, Casey once again believes she will die, and she tells her mom that she loves her so much, knowing the operators record all of their calls. Jordan tells her to fight. An Amber Alert has gone out about Casey.Denados car is low on gas, so the kidnapper pulls into a gas station. An invigorated Casey finds out she can crawl into the cars interior through the middle backseat, and she catches the attention of the gas station owner. When the man tries to rescue Casey, the kidnapper douses him in gasoline and lights him on fire. He opens the trunk, punches Casey unconscious, and drives away.Paul has an I.D. on the kidnapper: Michael Foster (Michael Eklund), a family man and medical technician. He and his partner go to Fosters house and interrogate his wife about where Foster might be. Paul finds a shrine dedicated to Fosters beautiful blonde sister, who died some years ago. Eventually, he discovers that Foster owns a cabin in the San Clarita Hills. The squad mobilizes.Foster finally parks. When he opens the trunk, he finds Casey holding the cell phone. He panics, and Jordan begs him not to hurt Casey, calling him by name. Foster tells her, Its already done. Jordan realizes Foster killed Leah Templeton, too. Foster smashes the phone, and after Jordan loses contact with Casey, her boss tells her to go home. Paul and his team swarm Fosters cabin but find no trace of the kidnapper or his victim.Somewhere else, Foster has strapped Casey into a wheelchair and wheels her into his laboratory. He forces her to inhale sedatives, but they wear off, and Casey manages to slip her bindings. She runs down a hallway and into a room, but she recoils in horror when she sees whats inside, and Foster recaptures her. Back at the hive, Jordan replays different clips of her conversation with Casey. She replays the part right before Foster destroyed the phone, and she fixates on a clanging sound before losing her cool and leaving the hive. She drives to Fosters cabin the police have left and searches the rooms. She finds pictures of Foster and his sister, who seems to hug and cuddle in a lot of the photos. Several snapshots indicate that Fosters sister died of cancer, and the last shot shows a young Foster kissing his hairless, emaciated sister on the mouth.Jordan steps outside. She hears a clanging noise like the one from the recording its a lock banging against a flagpole. Jordan finds a hatch in the ground and discovers Fosters subterranean lair. Jordan creeps around the lair and finds the same room in which Casey tried to hide its a replica of Fosters sisters room, but the pink bed is smeared with blood. Jordan hides when Foster enters the room, and shes horrified to discover that what she thought were wigs are actually the scalps of Fosters victims. Its obvious he has been killing girls to reenact his twisted fantasies of his sister.Casey is strapped to an operating table. Foster begins to scalp her, but Jordan interrupts him by smashing him in the head. She tries to free Casey, but Foster recovers. He starts to drown Jordan in a basin of water. Casey frees herself and slices open Fosters face. The women run out of the lair, but Foster follows them. Casey eventually stabs Foster in the back and knocks him back into his lair. Jordan almost calls 911, but Casey stops her.When Foster regains consciousness, he is chained to the wheelchair. Jordan and Casey tell him their version of Caseys rescue: Jordan will find her wandering in the woods, and he will disappear forever. They leave Foster in his dungeon, immune to his desperate cries for help.

Tags: revenge, suspenseful, murder, violence

Review:
The acting is good (no academy awards), and it did a good job of giving a glimpse into the operations of 911 call centers which is a fresh topic - and it did so without dragging the pace.The main bad guy becomes ever more creepy as the plot progresses which helps build the tension.
Halle Berry plays a gutsy 911 phone agent who is desperate not to repeat a mistake made.Frankly she was amazing...way better than i expected.The movie works because it has it's ingredients well cooked.The acting is superlative,the pace exhilarating.The background score is brilliant and adds another dimension to this thriller.The movie captures perfectly the horror and terror of being a kidnapped victim to a psychopath,the tension of being a 911 phone helper(Who needs to display equanimity,sympathize and be nimble-minded,all at the same time).It is a genuine tale,thrilling,intriguing .......and at times even scary.Definitely worth a watch.Go for it..
It's been awhile since I've seen Halle Berry in a film where I deemed her performance to be honest and believable until this one.Some people may not like some of the camera work during the "cruel" scenes, but I happen to like it.There were a few unintentionally funny scenes, but I chalk it up to dark comedic moments and it isn't detrimental one bit.I highly recommend you check this movie out if you love a top notch, edge of your seat, over the top plot, well acted thriller.
"The Call" is a tidy little thriller, modeled, in large part, on the movie "Speed." Halle Berry plays the Southern California 911 dispatcher who's in a race against the clock to rescue a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) locked in the trunk of a serial killer (Michael Eklund).Director Brad Anderson keeps the action going at a breakneck pace, providing pulse-pounding, edge-of-the-seat suspense that helps us to overlook the stray inconsistency and implausibility that wander into the narrative, particularly towards the end (the movie doesn't entirely escape the Third Act curse common to the genre).
There's also an unfortunate tendency towards the sadistic that spoils some of the fun.The really distinctive feature is that writer Richard D'Ovidio has made Jordan, the dispatcher, a compelling, easily identifiable figure by emphasizing not only her strength and craftiness but her insecurity and self-doubt as she does her best to assist people in making it through sometimes unimaginable crises.The movie is a bit overwrought at times (again, looking at you, last half hour) and it ultimately succumbs to too many serial-killer clichés, but "The Call" is a whole lot better than many of the more highly publicized, big-budget thrillers of recent times..
It's really intense and it's always giving you the "What now?"-question in your head, which will make you continue watching the movie because you really just want the answer.Great, action filled scenes with a lot of suspense, - and Halle Berry plays the leading role so great.
The newbie freaks out and so Halle Berry steps in, begging the question of why anyone in their right mind would let someone take a similar call to the scarring call that happened only 6 months ago.There are plenty of moments like this in here where the viewer is left to wonder "Does that even make sense?".
The whole movie ends up playing out like a bad episode of Criminal Minds, trying too hard to be a psychological thriller.The ending is terrible, by the way.
Yes like any movie there were some things that if you think too hardly don't make perfect sense and maybe could have been done differently, but it was entertaining and had me in suspense the entire time.
The ending was good to, Halle who plays jordan had so much care for abigail's character that she finds her and fights that freaking freak that took gails character in the beginning of the movie.
At first The Call seems to be out of place and doesn't seem to find a link between what you are being shown and what you are to enjoy, then "The Call" comes in and the movie starts, this movie thriller starts to become thrilling especially when the heroine ends up answering the call of the kidnapper the second time.The movie then moves into a chase to save the girl, a chase that is very thrilling and keeps you at the edge of your sit as you start to wonder how it will all go, this whole excitement meets an anticlimax the moment Halle Berry our protagonist decides to take matters into her own hands.
From here the movie starts to look stupid and seemed like a desperate need to make her look more like a true heroine by letting her be the one to take out the bad guy, something that the police should have done.This almost creepy, almost gruesome 2013 movie features Halle Berry as a 911 operator named Jordan, who attended to a 911 call from a girl who was about to be kidnapped.
While coaching, a 911 call about a kidnapping came in and she was around and the new recruit didn't know what to do, so Jordan took over and a chase to find the kidnapper and the kidnapped started.Brad Anderson started well with this flick but just crashed it at the end, after waiting almost half an hour for the movie to start rolling in the punches I felt horrible when I realized that the last 20 – 30 minutes was just a waste.That as it may, has not been a hindrance to the financial success of this film in the box office.
I for one am not a big Halle Berry fan however being a fan of suspense and serial killer type movies I had to see "The Caller" the previews looked good, and a nice treat of eye candy is provided with a now grown up and mature Abigail Breslin.
The film takes a real turning point when young Casey(in a sexy and strong mature performance from Abigail Breslin)is abducted from a mall and put in the back of a car trunk!
What starts off as a flatline, serviceable thriller rapidly descends into a cheesy miasma of B-grade sensibilities that has no business on the big screen.Halle Berry is Jordan Turner, a 911 operator who quits the force after a disturbing incident that led to her caller's murder.
Michael Eklund makes a solid baddie, but suffers from awful dialogue, while curious civilian Alan (Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos and Goodfellas fame) is fun, but exits far too early courtesy of a half-homage to Scorsese's 1990 gangster masterpiece.The film draws parallels to Morgan O'Neill's The Factory for its misguided attempt to blend the police procedural of Cold Case with the torture porn of Saw. The difference is that O'Neill's film knew its audience, shooting straight to DVD while Anderson's groan-fest damn near insults its cinema audience with an avalanche of plot holes, inconsistencies and just plain dopey behaviour from characters who really should know better.
The score is what you would expect from this type of movie, it's stock.Halle Berry turns on her full victim schtick (the thing she's almost good at) and sports an 80's Whitney Houston haircut, is this subliminal messaging?She sheds a tear but she's not great.The only good performance in this is from Abigail Breslin, and she's good.On the plus side, nice editing and overall a great pace.If you like to always know what you're getting, I present "The McCall".For an extra few cents you can supersize to "The McCall 2", I'm sure the wait won't be too long.Sigh.If it weren't for Abigail Breslin's great performance, I would recommend watching this if you enjoy really bad and stupid movies but alas it's not possible now..
The movie had a great story which sends the viewer on an emotional roller coaster and had me truly wondering if the protagonist, played by Halle Berry, was going to be able to help Casey out of her predicament or not.
'THE CALL': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) One of the most beautiful women in the world, Halle Berry, stars in this thriller about a 911 operator trying to help save a young girl from a serial killer she dealt with in the past.
This is one of the most frustrating movies I have seen.Halle Berry plays Jordan, a 911 operator, who messes up a call and is partially responsible for at girl being abducted and killed.
What I liked about The Call it was a well balanced suspenseful movie pitting heroine against villain, the musical score was not over bearing, and the director kept the blood and gore to a minimum, not sensationalizing how psychotic his serial killer, Michael Foster was played convincingly by Michael Eklund.Our heroine was the 911 operator Jordan Turner, played by Halle Berry.
This fast-paced, clever and exciting film will have you on the edge of your sit until the movie ends, or you fall from your sit.The plot is straightforward and believable.
From then on, it's up to Casey's resourcefulness and will to survive and a 911 dispatcher Jordan Turner's (Halle Berry,) quick thinking and deductive powers to stop this horrible story from reaching its fatal conclusion.The acting in this movie is worth mentioning.
This is the movie you watch on one breath, and exhale only after the end credits start to roll.If you are looking for an exciting and emotional thrill ride, The Call is the way to go..
The extremely shrill and annoying Halle Berry plays an emergency call operator who becomes involved with the killer when she attempts to save a couple of girls who ring her for help.The film becomes a battle of wits of sorts between Berry and the bad guy, with pretty teenage victim Abigail Breslin (HAUNTER) trapped in the middle.
***SPOILERS***Halle Berry is 911 emergency operator Jordan Turner who lost her nerve during an emergency call she got from young Leah Tempelton,Evie Tompson, who was kidnapped and murdered while trying to get in touch with her for help the year before.
It's a year later with Turner working as a trainer for future 911 emergency operators that she's forced to take to the phone and try to save another young lady Casey Welson, Abigail Breslin, who's as it turns out is kidnapped and threatened to be murdered by the very same person that wackododle psycho Michael Foster, Michael Eklund.
The movie has Turner keep Casey on the phone with her cell phone as she desperately tries to track down where she is and keep the police lead by her boyfriend Officer Paul Phillips, Morris Chestnut, informed of her location.With Foster soon sensing that he's been tailed he ends up murdering two other persons a motorist, who's car he carjacks, and a gas station attendant ,who suspects him of kidnapping, on his escape route.
Even Halle Berry seemed to have changed in both actions as well as appearance, it was hard to believe she was the same person, within the last and confusing half hour of the film.
Directed by Brad Anderson and starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin, The Call is one of those infuriating thriller movies that destroys all its hard work with a lame last quarter.
Can she save the girl this time?For the most part it's a sturdy thriller, it's not breaking new ground or anything, but it has some good ideas and the scenes of Breslin and Berry talking on the phone are well crafted and performed.
Or not as the case may be in one colossal plot hole that is badly attempted to be explained away by the makers!Such a shame, because both Berry and Breslin turn in good thriller performances, and Michael Eklund is suitably nuts as the serial killer with on-going issues.
But they are all better than this screenplay, and deserve better, it feels compromised after such a good start, while Anderson is clearly capable of greater things given he has Session 9, The Machinist and Transsiberian on his CV.The Call is cautiously recommended to those who are after a better than average thriller time waster.
Fast forward six months and Jordan is an emotional wreck but back at work in a new role when she is forced into taking a call from another teenage girl, Casey (Abigail Breslin), who has been abducted and regained consciousness to find herself in the boot of a speeding car.It's a good start.
It's a good film; it has moments of real intensity and it gives you an insight into what life may be like for a 911 operator and just how distressing the calls can be.
She played Jordan Turner, a 911 operator whose rare mistake costs a young girl's life as the movie starts, and who then finds herself once again at the other end of the phone with Casey, desperately trying to figure out a way to find out where she is so she can send the police.
Well I'm so happy to say I was completely wrong because The Call is the best movie I've seen this year so far a taut, unnerving, edge of your seat white knuckle thrill ride with 2 solid engaging performances from Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin.
Centering on a 911 operator named Jordan (played by Halle Berry in her best performance in years) who intercepts a 911 call from a young girl whose house is being broken into.
Jordan (Halle Berry) takes a distress call from Casey (Abigail Breslin), a young girl abducted from a mall.
From there, we are taken on this chilling, nerve-wracking ride of a film along with Casey in the trunk of that Toyota Camry, as Jordan tries to locate her and help her over her cell phone.I have not seen Halle Berry star in a film for a long time, and this was a good one for her.
This film had great acting, good plot, original story, and great pacing -- it was exciting from start to finish.Going in to this, I saw that it was made by WWE, and thought it was going to be boring flick with dry humor and dialogue akin to the overly dramatized thing you see from Jerry Bruckheimer on the CSI franchise, but it was none of that.
Focusing only on 911 operator Jordan (Halle Berry), the plot evolves over the phone when cute, blonde teenager Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) is kidnapped.
The dramatic thriller elements were good but it probably wasn't entertaining enough for the general audience and before we know it we have a cheesy horror film with a gory ending.
I'd even go as far as saying she out performed Miss Halle Berry.Sadly, the final act (and especially the final scene) let the movie down in many peoples eyes.
The Call In a perfect world you could just text an emoticon of your emergency to 9-1-1.However, this thriller doesn't take place in Utopia, so an operator is still required.Reeling from a home invasion call she received days ago from a young woman who was subsequently murdered, Jordan (Halle Berry) is hesitant to return to her job as a 9-1-1 operator.Encouraged by her boyfriend (Morris Chestnut), Jordan slips on her headset once more, only to heed the desperate pleas of a kidnapped teen (Abigail Breslin) trapped in the truck of a serial killer's (Michael Eklund) car.Unwilling to let this caller become another victim, Jordan goes above and beyond the law to track her down.While it starts off promising, this WWE production falls to pieces in the climax with the suspense reduced to senseless drivel.Besides, 9-1-1 is only for emergencies involving drive-thru restaurants forgetting your french fries.Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com.
Until then it's well written but post 1 hour, the story falls down to cliche movie climaxes until the very last scene which was worth the ending that this film deserved..
The Call is an intriguing film about 911 operator Jordan Turner (Hally Berry) who takes a call from teenager Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin), kidnapped by a madman.This intensity of the 911 call between Jordan and the distressed Casey adds to the suspense and keeps the plot a fast-paced thriller - all leading to the creepy intentions of the antagonist and the semi-unpredictable climax.The film also takes an in-depth and exciting look at survival and judgment calls.
The Call Starring Halle Berry is a Thriller following Jordan, a 911 operator that has been given the task of saving a girl on the line that has been kidnapped.
She was talking to the police operator Jordan Turner, played by Halle Berry; it was not the usual side of police that one expects to see in a movie.
It's a life or death situation, and your heart will be in your throat every second.Very exciting, suspenseful, and thrilling movie that towards the end becomes more like a horror film and is somewhat of a let-down.
It has one of the worst endings I have ever seen, it's so obvious that the director was trying so hard to make Halle Berry's character be a tough and strong woman but he ended up making the movie a huge mess..
This film excites viewers with it's plot, fast paced filming that emits energy, and character development that leaves you with a different perspective on how one succeeds as a 911 operator.Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) is one of the far more experienced 911 operators who is noticeably confident in knowing how to deal with any call she receives.
"Call" is a thriller movie in which we watch a woman who works as a 911 operator trying to catch a killer because of the past.
I also really liked how realistic the movie seemed - for most of it - and the no-nonsense showing of the super intense and high pressure conditions a 9/11 operator must work under.Halle Berry is very good as the veteran operator, who, against her training, gets too deeply involved with a harrowing emergency call she receives.