The Call

Here we have a real white-knuckle thriller involving Halle Berry as a 911 operator in Los Angeles, who is stressed out because one of her calls went badly wrong as the result of a mistake she made. So she gets another, from Abigail Breslin in the trunk of the car of a sex maniac who, no surprise, turns out to be the same guy who killed the previous girl on the line, six months before. I can accept a coincidence like this, as long as there are not too many of them. And it cracks along nicely for about an hour, with both Halle and Abigail doing plenty of smart things. Then when the showdown comes (and of course Halle gets out in the field to find the maniac), she violates the First Rule of Rescuing Heroines, which of course is to “Never turn your back on the dead/unconscious guy.” The ending is way beyond ridiculous, but oddly satisfying, because the two women do something that almost never happens in a movie. I won’t spoil it for you, even though I can’t really recommend that you watch the whole movie to find out what they do.