This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film involving the 911 operations and how they really have to go through a lot. We hear about a ton of different crimes going on and the whole film is about being in the middle of a tragedy and how the operators ultimately won’t be able to stop everyone. It doesn’t make for the most enjoyable film that’s for sure.

The movie introduces us to Jordan who is one of the best in the business for 911 operators. She’s been at this for a while and knows how to very quickly enter in all of the combinations and do what she has to. Unfortunately she makes a big mistake in one case which causes the victim to be murdered so she transfers out of active duty and into a teaching role. She is pulled back in though when there is a big kidnapping case and Jordan is the only one with the skills to handle the call. Will she be able to save the victim this time or is it game over for her?

I’d say the main issue with this film is that it’s one of those movies that relies a whole lot on shock value. They want to really show just how bad the villain is so we have to watch large parts of his crimes in full detail. The scenes go on for a very long time and it’s all pretty tragic. A film that is more confident in its writing and overall abilities would leave more to the imagination and just hit us with the need to know bits. Instead this film goes all in on this to its own detriment. It doesn’t end up being a film that you would really want to watch at all as you’re ready to turn it off after the opening minutes.

Even the crimes we get over the intercom tend to mainly be rather grisly to remind people how tough the job is. For sure being a 911 operator is not something that would be for everyone. It’s incredibly difficult and high stress. For those reasons it is probably a good idea to have a film on it to remind people of that but this film just lacked any kind of subtlety which put it in a rough position right from the jump. I would say the film really shouldn’t have shown the first crime or at least made more parts of it be off screen. It’s just a real mean spirited intro.

Then for the main part of the film you at least figure Jordan will be taking the villain down before he can do much but he gets away with way too much. When we get to his base it seems like this guy has been in the business for a while which is extra grim dark and the girl was injured a whole lot before Jordan is able to get there. When the villain gets away with this much it just ends up making the end of the film feel like a very hollow victory instead of the full success that it should have been. It’s like something got lost midway through the film rather than it being a big success.

Jordan does her best as the main character and while she did make a huge mistake, it is something that could happen to anyone. She has seemingly had a spotless career up to this point and has handled many calls. Jordan also knew when it was time to leave active duty and did this in a way where she wouldn’t put anyone in danger by freezing up. Ultimately even by the end she was willing to put herself in a lot of danger to help the victim so I can appreciate that.

The ending of the film is going for that classic revenge kind of feel and I do think it’s one of the problems with shock value type films. You basically make the villains so evil and over the top that you can then give license to the heroes to do something equally cruel back to them. It gives the audience vindication and everything. I can see the satisfaction there but honestly the best kind of ending is just shooting the villain and keeping it moving. A quick death and you send a message to the rest of the crooks. It may not be as satisfying in the moment but it helps to prevent the film just getting more and more violent the whole time.

It goes without saying that the film is super violent and has a lot of dark tones so that’s another reason you wouldn’t recommend this title to just anyone. It’s also one of those films where anyone who stands up to the main villain isn’t going to do so well. For example we have someone who tries to call the cops and get attacked but from then on doesn’t look very good at all. You knew he was doomed from the start though and I don’t get how he lowered his guard. A second guy at the gas station even had a weapon and a drop on the main villain but then he lowers his guard to open the door?

Lets just keep this simple, if you see someone had kidnapped a girl you already know he’s deranged. So you don’t need to be looking around wondering what to do. You gotta keep him in front of you and either finish him off or hold him til the cops arrive. Opening the door to try and get the girl out isn’t going to help at all. 9 times out of 10 she is likely going to be in no physical position to help and if anything you just made it tougher because he can grab her as a hostage or something. You have to win the 1 on 1 fight first and then worry about all of that.

Overall, The Call is a pretty terrible movie all around. It’s super cliche’d and predictable the whole time. At most the only unpredictable part is how far the film takes things because I thought it would have at least some basic restraint. Definitely one you will want to skip at all times. There are no real positives to be said about this journey. This kind of plot at least regarding the kidnapping has been done way better in numerous films. This one is just relying too much on that classic kind of shock value that you would expect from a B movie. The whole thing has that forced dark tone about it. I’d definitely wait for a remake someday to iron out all the flaws and make this into a much better film. They can do it….I’m sure they can. It’s hard to get much worse after all.

Overall 1/10