WRECKED DVD (2010)




SYNOPSIS: Adrien Brody stars as a man who awakenes in a mangled car-wreck at the bottom of a steep cliff. Injured and trapped inside with no memory of how he got there or who he is, he must rely on his most primal instincts to survive. But as he attempts to free himself from the carnage and escape an impossible situation, a darker side is revealed. Even if he manages to survive, the man may have to face the horrible consequences of an earlier, forgotten life. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Like ‘The Pianist’ – for which he became the youngest to win an Oscar for Best Actor – Adrien Brody once again finds himself with the indomitable task of sustaining his audience’s attention for pretty much the entire duration of ‘Wrecked’. The lone survivor of a horrifying car accident, Brody wakes up to find himself at the bottom of a steep cliff and with little recollection of who he is and how he got there.

Writer Christopher Dodd must have been inspired by the likes of ‘127 Hours’ and ‘Buried’, so in ‘Wrecked’, he fashions essentially a one-man show where the audience is made to watch Brody literally crawl his way on the forest ground to try to get out of the ravine and in the process attempt to recover his memory. Unfortunately, despite a bravado performance by Brody, there is too little by way of plot to make the entire exercise worth the while.

In line with Dodd’s script, first-time feature film director Michael Greenspan takes an appropriately minimalist approach to the material. The details form much of what takes up time on the screen, so minutiae like Brody trying to pick up a mint on the car floor or unjamming the door on the passenger side are shown in their entirety. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing in itself, and indeed the prospect of such a terrifying scenario does keep you riveted at the start.

There is also added suspense when the camera pans, 20 mins into the film, to reveal that there is someone dead in the back seat of the car, and when the radio crackles to tell of a bank robbery where the robbers were seen fleeing in the exact same model of a car Brody finds himself in. Later on, the bags of money in the boot will confirm that, though just what role Brody had played and the identity of a woman he keeps hallucinating about (Caroline Dhavernas) who is somehow connected to the robbery remain unclear.

What promise such a tantalising premise might hold out for soon dissipates as the middle section of the film is content to show Brody wiggling around the forest floor to try to get to higher ground. Sure, that might truly be a feat in itself given his condition and the elements he has to brave, but it simply doesn’t make for very interesting cinema – and soon enough, you’ll find yourself hoping that the film would simply fast-forward itself.

Even if you manage to summon the patience to get through that monotonous stretch, the eventual denouement doesn’t pack enough of a payoff to leave you satisfied. Granted that there is a twist you might not have seemed coming, but after the ordeal of sitting through a one half hour movie that seemed like three hours, you’d expect something more substantial to justify that determination. As it is, the experience comes off more as a gimmick that was pushed way too long.

Had it been a mini-feature for instance, ‘Wrecked’ would have been a great idea. But at feature length, it just doesn’t have enough to keep you engaged, or for that matter to reward your patience at the end. Brody is great in the part, but like his audience, he is ultimately let down by the plotting. The eventual film isn’t a wreck like its title suggests, but it is just a trip that goes on for too long to a destination that is too slight. 

AUDIO/VISUAL:

The Dolby Digital 5.1 is a surprisingly strong package that uses the ambient sounds to good surround effect. Visuals are clear and crisp.

MOVIE RATING:



DVD RATING :

Review by Gabriel Chong
 



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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Thriller
Starring: Adrien Brody, Caroline Dhavernas, Ryan Robbins, Adrian Holmes, Jacob Blair
Director: Michael Greenspan
Rating: NC-16 (Coarse Language)
Year Made: 2010

 SPECIAL FEATURES

- NIL

 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English
Subtitles: English/Chinese
Aspect Ratio: 16x9
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: Scorpio East Entertainment