Stars Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez Directed by Eric Heisserer Earlier in 2013, Paul Walker had a fairly small movie, Vehicle 19, where he spent most of the screen time alone acting against a phone. It was something of an experimental movie where the camera barely left the vehicle as the story unfolded within and around the titular vehicle. It wasn’t a great movie, but it wasn’t bad, but it did show that Walker was willing to take certain risks where acting was concerned and probably give fledgling or upcoming directors a chance. The same could be said for Hours, written and directed by Eric Heisserer. Like with Vehicle 19, we have Paul Walker carrying a majority of the movie alone within a locked off location, in this case, a hospital. Nolan Hayes (Walker) and his pregnant wife, Abigail (Genesis Rodriguez) check into a hospital just as Hurricane Katrina is about to make landfall in New Orleans. Abigail dies as she gives birth to a premature baby that has to be kept in a ventilator. As New Orleans suffers the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina, Nolan has to struggle to keep his baby alive when the power to the hospital inevitably gets cut off. That’s the gist of the whole movie. Suffice to say, Walker does deliver a solid dramatic performance that it underscores the fact he left us way too soon. The desperation of the situation comes in the form of a failing battery in the baby’s ventilator that can’t hold a charge for more than a few minutes, numbers that dwindle with each manual recharge from a hand cranked generator. The ticking clock factor works well, especially when it’s enhanced by the situation that any form of help may not turn up in a long while. Heisserer’s script does skate on thin ice, but he manages to keep pace and tension going a fair bit. There are stretches that might test the credulity of the “ticking clock”, such as the brief flashback sequences and Nolan running about to try to find some other way to help his baby. The atmosphere is not as claustrophobic as it could be but the use of light does seem to be effective enough to convey the atmosphere of the situation. Still, not great, but not bad either, and it is effective enough for the most part where these movies are concerned (see Ryan Reynolds in Buried). It is a worthy turn from Walker that would make us wonder what else we miss out on. Rating ***/5
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2017
|