Director Brad Anderson delivers a film that is more entertaining than you might think. It won't revolutionize anything, but it has a lot more content than you might think, which makes for a pleasant time.
Starring Joel Kinnaman and Sandra Mae Frank, the film follows a Boston detective who loses his hearing after an accident on duty. With his new role as a sign language interpreter for the department, Frank now has the mission of protecting Ava, a deaf woman who witnessed a double murder. The use of sign language is the key to the film's captivating nature, allowing for an impeccable connection between the main characters who, through their lack of hearing, make this suspense thriller have some really well-achieved moments and tension that is well managed by its director.
The good use of sound, with which the film gets an additional plus, makes the simple story take an interesting turn, without being extraordinary or novel, but for what the film proposes it is quite efficient, more so if we add the good work of its director who knows how to place the camera at the moment of exploiting the tension. Then we find the typical argumentative clichés of a script that plays it safe and without major daring, few deaths and little intelligence among the villains stand out, but the game you enter achieves its goal of fair, average and partial entertainment for a film that does not pretend to revolutionize everything, but rather to fulfill its original idea.
A cast that includes supporting actors such as Mark Strong, Mekhi Phifer and Michael Eklund help the film to have the level of commitment it deserves so that you, as a viewer, become hooked on the whole story that is being told to us.
A better bet than you might think, it won't be one of those that will make it into the top of the year, but it does have its charm that makes it more enjoyable than you might think or be carried away by the critics. It has its moments, it has a couple with chemistry and it has just the right level of tension that makes it totally enjoyable to watch, without discounting the message it seeks to convey, which is really the great power that the film has.
