Ruby Films
Aaron Johnson, Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard, Hannah Murray, Daniel Kaluuya, Megan Dodds, Michelle Fairley, Nicholas Gleaves, Jacob Anderson, Ophelia Lovibond
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Five teenagers meet and play a game of hide and seek in an on-line chat room, where William (Aaron Johnson) is a bit of a predator. He’s set his sights on his next victim, Jim (Matthew Beard), while Jim’s friends Eva (Imogen Poots), Emily (Hannah Murray) and Mo (Daniel Kaluuya) try to free him from the manipulation of William who has shown himself to be an evil friend. The on-line world blends into the real world.
This is a film that starts out with a clever premise. People who hide out in chatrooms are not always what they seem. Their lives tend to revolve around the chatroom almost as if that’s real and their actual life is fantasy. Also, people who hand out in chatrooms are not always who they seem to be. They did a very clever way of separating what it in the chatroom from what is real. Real life is dull and dreary, and the colors are bright and vibrant in the chat room. The technique in showing the cross-over between the two worlds is clever. In one instance a teenage girl is talking in the voice of an older man. Then suddenly the vision flashes between the the girl and the old guy repeatedly so we get the message that it’s an old creepy guy pretending to be a young girl.
The problem is the rest of the story let me down. It just wasn’t that interesting. Yeah, William is a jerk, and there’s a little bit of drama in the others trying to stop him, but mostly it’s pretty boring stuff. I didn’t get into the film one bit, and it just did not grab me. The acting was very weak, and the suspense was not very grabbing. All in all, it was a mild drama that just didn’t keep my attention. I don’t recommend this film. I’m sure there are those who loved it, and so if you’re one of those, please comment and explain what I’m missing, cause I just didn’t get it.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
