Review
Colin Farrell steals this show in this tense thriller that definitely works, despite the flimsy premise.
April 03, 2003 - It’s a protocol breach when a critic enters a film with preconceived notions. It’s unfair to the filmmaker, the actor, as well as the people who will be reading the review. However, unfairly or not, I was somewhat dreading Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth. While I had no problems with such Schumacher films as Falling Down and Tigerland, his Batman and Robin, Batman Forever, and the recent Bad Company left me completely cold. The thought about which Schumacher I was going to get was rolling around in my head for all of three minutes until Phone Booth completely roped me in. That’s how long it took: three minutes. Schumacher had a taut script, an actor near his youthful peak, and a guerilla-style economy to the film that perfectly captures our technological zeitgeist. In short, he knocked Phone Booth out of the park.
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrel) is a sleazy New York publicist who handles his clients (aspiring actors and musicians) and the media with about as much finesse as a used-car salesman at the end of the month. He is brusque, full of lies, and bends ethics to the point of breaking. In short, he’s just the type of cell phone-wielding two-bit wannabe player you love to hate. When he answers a pay phone in one of the last phone booths in New York City, the voice on the other end (Keifer Sutherland) tells him not to hang up or he will be shot. Thus begins a tense stand-off where Stu must quickly decide what kind of person he is and confront his moral demons.
After the sniper takes his first victim in a way that makes Stu appear guilty, the NYPD shows up and Captain Ramey (Forest Whitaker) becomes his negotiator. Stu’s wife also comes down to the scene and Stu must then juggle the out-of-control sniper, the itchy trigger fingers of the NYPD, and his confused wife. As he is tortured by the sniper to reveal more and more of himself and confess to some very personal thoughts, Stu eventually is faced with a do-or-die decision.
Colin Farrell as Stu proves that roles like his scene-stealing Bullseye in Daredevil aren’t flukes. Farrell manages in the course of a little under 90 minutes to go from an unlikable jackass to a sympathetic hero. There’s definite acting going on here and any one of Stu’s monologues could easily be botched in the hands of a less-competent actor. Farrell pulls together a performance that is memorable for both its intensity and subtlety.
-© 20th Century Fox, 2003
Stu (Colin Farrell) tries to keep it together in Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth
Another indispensable element in Phone Booth is the pounding score of Harry Gregson-Williams. Probably best known for such films as Armageddon, Shrek and The Rock, Gregson-Williams ups the ante here with a deconstructed urban sound that serves the claustrophobic nature of the street perfectly. Not since Fight Club has a score matched up with the mood of a film so nicely.
That’s not to say Phone Booth doesn’t have some problems. Some of the weakest moments are with some of the lesser roles in the film: Schumacher’s hookers are over-the-top caricatures as is his white rapper whom Stu represents. Also, the sniper’s previous targets included an unethical CEO and a pedophile, does Stu really deserve the same fate just because he is a shady publicist? Finally, it appears Joel Schumacher spent some time watching Tony Scott films because Phone Booth is riddled with plenty of hyper-edits and split-screen moments. While such innovation and technique can be effective, here some of them seem too gimmicky.
All in all, Phone Booth is a short and sweet way to get your adrenaline flowing at the multiplex. The somewhat unbelievable and simple story is easily made up for by Colin Farrell’s acting chops, Schumacher’s competent and disciplined direction and the overall forward moving action of the 82-minute film.
– Steven Horn
Rating
IGN.com gives it 4 out of 5 stars
Movie Reviews, Trailers, Interviews, Wikis & Posters for Movies - IGN
we’ll be watching it tonight. Anyone else willing to experience something different
:biggthumb
