Ed's Review Dot Com

Little Magic Films, Automatik Entertainment, IM Global,

Mark Webber, Rutina Wesley, Devon Graye, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Tom Bower, Ron Perlman, Christopher Berry, Stephanie Honore

Elliott Brindle (Mark Webber) is a salesman, who is really having a rough streak. Things are falling apart every which way, and he’s badly in need of cash, fast. To top it off, he’s planning on getting married and is in the hole financially. Strangely, a phone call comes through his cell phone telling him he is selected to play a game and the top prize after 13 tasks are completed is a million dollars. The first couple tasks are not hard, so he is pulled into this strange game which turns very serious in a hurry. If he quits the game he loses everything he has earned, but furthermore will definitely be arrested, but if he goes on with the game they will have all the charges “go away”. Once he’s in, it’s hard to get out, and it doesn’t take very long for him to see he made a very stupid choice.

I should not have liked this movie. Certainly the idea is really far fetched. These people, whoever they are, know where he is every moment and can see his every move. How does that happen?

There are logic holes all over the place. But this is not to be taken as a literal happening. It’s a story to make you think about what you would be willing to do. How far would you go. The story is very clever. I haven’t seen these kind of challenges before. It’s like “Deal With It” on steroids. Mark Webber does a great job as Elliott and whoever the voice on the phone is, he does a perfect job coming off as an arrogant snob who has no morals and no shame. Each of the “levels” are very clever, and we are pulled into the story. It’s a small movie, not much budget, independently done, but very well crafted. The story is very fresh, born out of reality TV of today, although this is private game and not blamed on the media. This movie is very far off the scope of most people, and one that is very cleverly done and deserves some attention. You have to recognize that it’s allegorical and not literal, and you’ll enjoy it and find yourself talking about it for a while to come. What would you do?

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog