Screen Gems, Will Packer Productions,
Taraji P. Henson, Idris Elba, Leslie Bibb, Kate del Castillo, Henry Simmons
Colin (Idris Elba) is a violent prisoner, denied parole one more time, but when he breaks out of prison, he heads first to his wife’s home, but when he knocks on Terri’s (Taraji P Henson) door claiming that he had an accident in the pouring rain and asking to use the phone, Terri decides to let him in where she’s alone with her two children. Terri’s husband is away, and inviting this kind, gentle, and very handsome fellow in to wait for the tow truck while she flirts a little and gets some much needed attention may be the biggest mistake in her life. He terrorizes everyone as Terri tries to figure out why he’s gotta be so mean.
This is a fairly decent home invasion robbery with a bit of a twist in the end that I didn’t see coming. Looking back, I probably should have. The suspense and terror is there, but it’s not exactly a new concept. There have certainly been a lot of home invasion stories in the last few years, and this is one of them. Though not extremely original, it still is pretty well done. The main difference in 2014 is that women aren’t the helpless victims anymore. They have to be tough and ready to fight to protect their home and family, without a man around to help, and pull a superhero effort. Pity the poor woman who isn’t ready to fight like Liam Neeson these days. Taraji is surely the tough superwoman here and she’s not going to go down whining. Lots of superb suspense and terror are built up here, and the ending wasn’t half bad either. Naturally anyone in a uniform is going to be fat, dumb, stupid, or clueless, and they fall like flies, while this woman and her kids are invincible. If I sound bitter, I guess I’m a bit old fashioned and I am used to my women a little bit softer in my movies, but hey, it’s a new world these days. This is a bit of a run of the mill home invasion thriller, but it’s so well done, that you’ll probably enjoy it. If you like the edge of your seat experience, you can do much worse than this film, so give it a shot.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
