The Call
Directed by: Brad Wilson
Written by: Richard D’Ovidio (screenplay), Richard D’Ovidio, Nicole D’Ovidio & Jon Bokenkamp (story)
Starring: Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut and Michael Eklund

Right before The Call takes a dive into its third act abyss, the main character, a 911 phone operator, is told by her supervisor to go home.  She was just disconnected from a kidnapped teenager (Abigail Breslin), but her job does not allow her to have resolution.  That’s for the officers that respond, and she just gets to see how it unfolds on the news.

Many reviews of this taut, often exceptional thriller have condemned the take-no-prisoners absurdity of the last 20 or so minutes.  Instead of the safe if chaotic confines of the 911 call center, Jordan Turner (Halle Berry and her hair) becomes a sort of vigilante and takes it upon herself to stop the serial killer who she creepily encounters on the other end of the line twice before being disconnected.  The ending is implausible, to be sure, but it turns the movie into a feminist parable, one where neither woman becomes a victim and show no signs of sainthood when they finally do incapacitate the killer (Michael Eklund).

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