By Talon Bronson
Reporter
Youth Journalism International
PORTLAND, Oregon, U.S.A. – So, for the record, I really do love films like Wrecked.
I’m not sure if they have an actual genre for these flicks. I call them ‘box’ movies. Now, ‘box’ doesn’t necessarily refer to a box itself, but to a story that revolves around the lead character being stuck.
Phone Booth with Colin Farrell from 2002, or 2010’s Buried with Ryan Reynolds fit my idea of a ‘box’ movie. Both consist of a plot where very little really happens, physically, anyway, because guess what? The lead character, the guy you’re rooting for, happens to be stuck.
Now, if that is done right, it can be very entertaining. The dear writers of these flicks have a good little challenge on their hands, the challenge of somehow keeping viewers intrigued when nothing really happens.
That can be tough, and that’s the reason that, when these types of movies work, they can be quite enjoyable.
But what makes them work is giving you a character to care about.
Unfortunately, even when played by the incredibly talented Adrien Brody, the lead character of ‘Wrecked’ does nothing to make you like him.
It’s not like he is unlikeable. It’s that there is nothing there to really let us know anything that would make us root for him.
Basically, we are dropped in on a character, and then get to watch him, for 40 minutes, pull his body out of a crashed car.
Sure, he’s in pain, he screams, he is frantic … but who is he? We don’t know, and the movie does little to make us wonder.
This is not to say that the plot of the film isn’t interesting. It very much is. The problem is that there is really only enough in this film for a very good short movie.
When that very good short movie gets stretched into a feature film, as it seems to have been here, it loses its appeal.
Frankly, it becomes a little boring, and, though I still found myself wondering, and definitely interested, I also found myself wishing I could make it go faster.
Minutes will pass by, and you’ll just be waiting for that next little bit of information, that turn in the plot that you know is coming.
When it comes, it’s definitely fun. But it just takes to long to get there, and after a brief moment of escalation, you’ll find yourself dropped right back into bad pacing, wondering how long it will be until you can walk out of the theater.
It’s interesting enough to make you stay for its entirety, but not interesting enough to make you enjoy it.
So, don’t watch Wrecked.
I rarely give bad reviews, and this isn’t even really a bad movie. It has some very redeeming points.
But you don’t need to watch it. Perhaps, if it was 40 minutes shorter, and gave you a little more reason to care about the main character, then it would be something I would suggest.
But as is, its pacing is just awful and though you will watch it all the way through, you’ll leave wondering why exactly you did.
Save yourself some time.
Phone Booth is about 20 minutes shorter, and all together, much better.
Or, you could just go take a walk.
