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How entertaining? ★☆☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 31 August 2016
A movie review of THE CHAMBER.Seen at FrightFest 2016. (For more information, click here.)
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"That’s the business we’re in, secrets remain secrets," Red (Charlotte Salt)
When you don't have large resources and are making an action thriller, you need an electrifying script. Zinging dialogue and coruscating performances, though set ostensibly in one room, can be propulsive, e.g. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. Even if you are not David Mamet on peak form, last year’s RATTLE THE CAGE, a thriller staged in a single room police station was an entertaining genre exercise. THE CHAMBER, after a brief preamble locates the supposed dramatic fireworks to a tiny submarine. The resultant damp squib is dead in the water, the sub-90 minute runtime drags.
The Yongang is a research ship operating in the Yellow Sea, near a diplomatic hotspot. North Korean territorial waters are not far, and news footage shows hostility from the secretive nation. An international crew of Europeans and Asians are suddenly added to when American special forces requesting/insisting on civilian assistance. Already the underrated and atmospheric THE ABYSS springs to mind. Sharing a plot mechanic is not a savvy move as THE CHAMBER’s massive shortcomings are in sharp contrast to James Cameron’s technical marvel.
When you don't have large resources and are making an action thriller, you need an electrifying script. Zinging dialogue and coruscating performances, though set ostensibly in one room, can be propulsive, e.g. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. Even if you are not David Mamet on peak form, last year’s RATTLE THE CAGE, a thriller staged in a single room police station was an entertaining genre exercise. THE CHAMBER, after a brief preamble locates the supposed dramatic fireworks to a tiny submarine. The resultant damp squib is dead in the water, the sub-90 minute runtime drags.
The Yongang is a research ship operating in the Yellow Sea, near a diplomatic hotspot. North Korean territorial waters are not far, and news footage shows hostility from the secretive nation. An international crew of Europeans and Asians are suddenly added to when American special forces requesting/insisting on civilian assistance. Already the underrated and atmospheric THE ABYSS springs to mind. Sharing a plot mechanic is not a savvy move as THE CHAMBER’s massive shortcomings are in sharp contrast to James Cameron’s technical marvel.
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Mats (Johannes Kuhnke) is the pilot of creaking submersible the Aurora, used by the oil exploration team we never meet. The budget appears to be so slim that the majority of the movie is just four people. THE CHAMBER is a tedious submarine survival chamber piece. *Geddit?* Conversations involve characters explaining to the audience the dangers and pitfalls, or the four protagonists yelling. They get grating quickly. Who will make it to the finish line? One challenges you to care. The ending’s choice does elevate proceedings slightly, though this is far from the excellent ALL IS LOST.
Mats is continually demanding from his three passengers to let him in on the mission. Er, why? Of course the military are not going to share info with a civilian, especially one from another country. We’ve all guessed it is either a weapon, or hopefully an alien. You’re hoping for an alien too, right? *Just me then.*
The operation naturally goes awry. Believability is non-existent as relations sunder. There is a crummily portrayed explosion involving shaking the camera and nonsensical editing. The hokey charm of the original STAR TREK television show is not present in the lurching around the set. Everything feels so budget. One wonders what the star of the excruciatingly sublime FORCE MAJEURE is doing here.
The actors bellow “Shut up!” a lot at each other. Even soap opera screeching varies the vocabulary.
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