A widow rushes through a dense forest after learning about an active shooter at her son’s school. Desperate Hour takes the worst nightmare of every parent and makes it into a silly film. It starts as a scary and interesting idea, but quickly descends into pure madness. The use of single character perspective becomes less credible when the narrator intrudes on the scene via cell phone. What is worse, the movie does not even strive to address the problem of gun violence affecting children today. Desperate Hour represents exploitation that pushes boundaries.
Amy Carr (Naomi Watts) had been married for 17 years and she lost her husband in a car accident. Her eldest son Noah (Colton Gobbo) is not okay since then. As Amy tells him to get ready for school, she takes her little girl (Sierra Maltby) to the bus stop before heading out to run in seclusion.
Amy’s zen mood is frequently interrupted by calls from people who are worried about her safety. She sets her phone on silent mode. Suddenly, an alarming news update interrupts her thoughts. A shooter has attacked Noah’s high school. Amy urgently dials emergency services to find out more details. The dispatcher informs her there is gathering of parents at a community center nearby which is miles away from where she currently stands at this time . Amy races through thick woods frantically with no idea what will happen next; she acquires useful tips through her phone or anyone willing to help while using it also as GPS device for directions . When she receives an ominous call about Noah from the police department, panic and dread overwhelm her.
The Desperate Hour runs only eighty four minutes long.” We see most of those minutes taken up by Naomi Watts running around on a cellphone”. In short, it’s all primal fear mongering”. Motherhood first comes with caring for one’s baby’. Alone and far away from him, Amy Carr cannot reach out to her son who is in mortal danger. The only thing she can do is not contact him. But yet, she manages to use her phone for information and personal involvement into the emergency. Every call she makes gets more ridiculous”. This concept goes too far.
Naomi Watts is a brilliant actress, and that’s where any criticism should be directed”. The problem with Desperate Hour lies in the plot neither well planned nor executed”. Phillip Noyce (Salt, Patriot Games) directs it wrongly as Chris Sparling (Greenland) writes it.” Using such a serious topic for their own ends, the pair of them are deeply flawed”. It’s wrong for school shootings to be used as props or settings in thriller movies”.The film then goes off the deep end at this point”.
On another note, however, Desperate Hour could have made an excellent character study if done right’. A lead stuck in the wilderness trying to find her child would be interesting. This remote connection to the tragedy was poorly chosen. I don’t pray these school shootings will become a form of entertainment or indifference.’ These awful crimes remain a sad and damning indictment of our society in which they are still common.
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