In the buildup to the climax of Brad Anderson’s The Call, a character discovers what the film’s villain has been doing with all the teenage girls he’s been kidnapping and killing. It’s a grisly revelation, and it’s played for shock value — both for the audience and for the character making the discovery.
There’s only one problem: Early in the film, the body of one of these girls is recovered. So the details of the killer’s M.O. shouldn’t come as any shock whatsoever to the character that discovers his lair.
It’s careless storytelling — and unfortunately, it’s typical of the bizarre choices and the lazy, sloppy structure that inform the last 20 minutes of the film.
Those oddities include the moment when the film’s protagonist — a 911 operator named Jordan (Halle Berry) — undergoes a sudden personality shift. There’s also a hilariously ham-handed attempt at what I can only assume is meant to be a metaphor for American attitudes toward crime, punishment and vengeance, signaled by the conspicuous framing of an American flag behind Jordan in a key moment before the proceedings start going completely bonkers.
Even the props department drops the ball, providing canisters marked “nitric oxide” (rather than nitrous) to be used as anesthetic for an impromptu medical procedure.