Running Time: 113 minutes
This film from 20th Century Studios opens exclusively in cinemas on January 30th. It will also be presented in 3D at select theaters.
While director Sam Raimi has had a history with big Hollywood productions like the original Spider-Man trilogy, cult movie enthusiasts will likely rank genre titles such as The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness and Drag Me to Hell among their favorites from the filmmaker. These pictures have brilliantly mixed horror and humor, making audiences squirm one moment, before having them burst out loud with laughter the next. His new picture Send Help falls into that category. It’s a story about a battle between two individuals that entertains with thrills and wild gags, while effectively emphasizing how unchecked power can corrupt us all.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is an introverted and undervalued Strategy and Planning executive at a consulting firm. Long valued by the organization, she still struggles to make friends at the office, which is little more than a boy’s club. Linda spends most of her free time watching the television program Survivor, and developing her survival skills in the hopes of becoming a contestant. When new president Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) arrives on the scene, the arrogant businessman takes an instant dislike to Linda. He gives the promotion promised to her to his college buddy Donovan (Xavier Samuel) with the intention of phasing her out of the company. But Bradley realizes that he needs Linda’s services for one more meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, and invites her along. A horrific air crash leaves Linda and Bradley isolated on a deserted tropical island. The two are forced to coexist until help arrives, but Linda’s quick adaptation to the new environment causes tension that escalates in increasingly outrageous forms.
Some of the publicity surrounding the feature sells it as a straight-up horror film. Make no mistake, there are several incredibly wince-inducing moments in the story that are hard to forget, but at its heart this is a dark comedy. There isn’t a whole lot of subtlety, as the egotistical Bradley is rotten to the core, earning his position from nepotism and treating Linda with incredible disdain. Linda is socially awkward and finds almost no support from those around her. But the performers are incredibly entertaining in their broad parts, maximizing the humor in their awkward and antagonistic interactions.
When they’re on the tropical island, the script has a lot of fun pitting the two against each other. It’s very amusing witnessing an increasingly emasculated and frustrated Bradley wilt under Linda’s newfound power and resolve. And while the characters do try to mend fences as the story progresses, it’s clear that both have ulterior motives and are trying to manipulate each other for their own benefit. In fact, a turning point comes at a certain section of the film where the viewer’s loyalties may be tested, as one begins to exhibit some of the same behavior as the other.
Director Raimi is known for his incredible camera work. While conversations between the characters both in the office and on the distant locale don’t feature wild camera moves, there are plenty of creative shot moments. These include some extreme close-ups early on, hilariously grim angles during the plane crash as panicked executives are thrown around a plummeting plane, and a boar-hunting sequence that gets outrageously messy as it progresses. A later showdown between the two leads that includes one specific act that is so unsettling it’s still hard to shake. Despite all these disturbing sights, the film manages to emphasize absurdist humor which somehow makes it all amusing.
Naturally, this is a smaller picture for the filmmaker, meaning that the CGI effects aren’t always top-of-the-line. As such, there is no mistaking the featured boar for a real animal. Additionally, the story can be a bit choppy when the characters are first stranded, cutting from one brief argument and/or situation to the next a little too abruptly.
This is not an Oscar-bait drama about the abuse of power, but it gets the same message across and has a great time doing so. The cast are fully committed as they go to extremes and their enjoyment in taking part in outrageousness is infectious, with several sequences that aren’t easily forgotten. If you can handle a bit of blood, this is likely the most fun you’ll have at the movies in the next little while. Send Help is a rare January treat at the movies that provides jolts and laughs in equal measure.
