97 Minutes review – twisty terror thriller hands Alec Baldwin a moral quandary – The Guardian

Tright here is one thing deeply irksome about this movie: it’s referred to as 97 Minutes and but is, in truth, roughly 93 minutes lengthy. Not that making it longer would have improved it significantly, however making certain it unfolded in actual time would have barely enhanced, not less than in formal phrases, an in any other case first rate however nondescript motion thriller. On this movie’s world, the clock begins ticking when a vaguely outlined quasi-Slavic terrorist cell hijack a airplane certain for JFK over the Atlantic Ocean. Throughout the tussle for management, the pilot is significantly injured, the co-pilot killed, and the fuselage pierced by a few bullets from 3D-printed weapons, creating an unstable altitude-pressure state of affairs.

There are civilian passengers on board, so if the airplane is to land earlier than it runs out of gas, nationwide safety brokers on the bottom, led by director Hawkins (Alec Baldwin, presumably hustling up some scratch for his authorized payments), should discover a manner of turning the autopilot on or capturing down the airplane earlier than it turns into a weapon in itself. In the meantime, one of many hijackers, Alex (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), seems to be an embedded Interpol agent who in flip conscripts a former physician, Kim (MyAnna Buring), into serving to him revive the pilot briefly with EpiPen pictures in an effort to get recommendation on guiding the airplane. That technique finally kills the poor pilot, in entrance of his younger son (Jake Hayes) no much less, however Alex and Kim seemingly haven’t any different selection if they’re to save lots of everybody else on the airplane.

In essence, Pavan Grover’s script appears like a extra difficult variation on the runaway trolley drawback a lot debated by philosophers, however right here there are additionally army jets making an attempt to shoot the trolley/airplane and pauses for characters to reminisce about family members misplaced within the “struggle on terror”. The always-compelling Rhys Meyers brings a sure icy darkness to the position of Alex who typically appears a bit too ruthless to be a very good cop whereas Buring is relatable because the panicked medical skilled together with her personal demons.

The script, in the meantime, throws in just a few attention-grabbing spins on the method within the final act, though the final twist is probably a flip too far given it annihilates the twist simply earlier than that. However for those who let that go, that is moderately fluid pulp leisure, crafted effectively by Finnish director Timo Vuorensola, who’s clearly making an attempt to go a bit of legit after having made his status with the cult comedy nonsense that’s the Iron Sky collection.

• 97 Minutes is launched on 10 July on digital platforms.

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