Written by Jennifer Manriquez, Editor-In-Chief, Paddy Jack Press
If The Hunger Games had a baby with an industrial office building one drunken night in Colombia, The Belko Experiment would be birthed from that union.
I caught this movie on HBO today and, man, did I enjoy it! It's really fun, guys. At least, it's fun for us horror nerds. I don't know how a "normie" would tolerate it, but I thought it was great! I know it's gotten some less-than-stellar reviews, possibly based on the brutality or inconceivability of some of the scenes. I don't think bad reviews are warranted, though. If this movie had come out in the 70's everyone would still be worshiping it.
It was written/produced by James Gunn, and directed by some other guy. I kid, I kid... It was directed by a guy named Greg McLean, whose directing credits thus far don't stack up to much, but I was impressed with his direction of this film, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for his work in the future.
If you haven't seen it, stop here and go watch it first.
I'm definitely going to get into some spoiler territory and don't want to wreck it for you.
The movie is about a non-profit company named Belko (whose purpose is vague) in Bogota, Colombia. There are forty such companies around the globe. The employees are mostly American, although I think a Brit or two may have sneaked in. The main character is Mike, a nice guy and regular Joe who has friends around the office, as well as a girlfriend. The girlfriend, whose name is Leandra, is constantly eyeballed by John C. McGinley, who plays the office creeper, Wendell. Leandra does not take kindly to Wendell's bullshit, a plot point I assumed would lead to a rapey scene later on, but thankfully it didn't. There's also a new gal to the office, Dany, and she gets some kind of tracking implant put into her head because it might help them find her if she gets kidnapped. Oh, you were wondering how many offices do a minor surgical procedure on new employees? Yeah, you're right, exactly none. So, that bit was a tad unbelievable. But, just like in the Purge films (of which I'm a big fan), if you can suspend your disbelief just enough you can really go for a fun ride. So, just ignore that minor thing that makes no sense and stick with it.
As the employees are coming into the building, their cars and IDs are being respectively searched and scanned. And a new set of guards they've never seen before are turning away the usual security team, much to the suspicion of the employees, but a job's a job so what are ya gonna do?
After a standard morning at the office, a voice comes over the loudspeaker and tells everyone in the building that if they don't kill two of the eighty employees in the building - it's their choice which ones - that six will die. A bunch of metal blockades go shooting up over all the windows and doors, which is a cool effect and helps us to feel the characters' sense of isolation more fully. Of course they don't choose anyone to die, so six people randomly drop dead, the backs of their heads inexplicably blown out. Was it a gunshot, you ask? Why no, it's those goddamn weird tracking implants they have. This bit, again, is just a little too convenient, but it ends up working pretty well to drive the plot along as you have no clue who's going to be killed next, or by whom. If the people in the office aren't doing the killing, some rando in a warehouse will just flip a switch and blow some heads out. Without this plot device, I don't see how the story would have worked, so as unrealistic as it is, I support it.
You can imagine where it goes from here. Madness and mayhem. A group of assholes, led by Barry the C.O.O., takes control of the weapons cache. Oh... why does an office building have a weapons cache, you ask? Don't ask! It just does! (Personally, I feel that the weapons cache thing could have been left out entirely and the story would have been fine.) It clearly apes Lord of the Flies here. You have Mike's (Ralph's) side, the good guys, and Barry's (Jack's) crew, the bad guys. The two factions ally themselves early on, which results in a lot of chaos and killing. Hey, that's why we wanted to see it, though, right?
I feel there were some wasted opportunities in the plot. At the beginning of the film, there's one super bitchy older lady who causes trouble. You'd think the people she wronged might take advantage of the opportunity to fuck with her later on, but that never happens. And, like I said before, there's an office creeper hanging around one of our heroines. There's a little bit of throwback to that later in the movie when he accuses her of teasing him, but that's really as far as it goes.
Our main hero, and our final guy Mark (you know from the first scene he's going to be the lone survivor; it's broadcast pretty hard) never actually kills anyone until the very end, when he bludgeons the main asshole, Barry, to death with a tape dispenser. It's a pretty thrilling and cathartic scene as you have now come to despise Barry, and you can't help but to rejoice in Mark's triumph over him. With Mark the winner and sole survivor, the walls come down and Mark is escorted to the warehouse where the army guys were controlling whose heads exploded and whose didn't. There are monitors everywhere and a main baddy who wants to sit Mark down and ask him questions. Well, Mark's not having it. He rushes the control panel and blows up all the army guys with tracking devices that he secretly placed on them just moments before. For a split second, the camera lingers on Mark eyeballing his own control switch and I thought he might make the choice to blow himself up. But, alas, he walks outside and looks up at a beautiful sky. As the camera pulls out on Mark, we are transported to a panel of monitors, all showing similar lone survivors, with Mark's monitor in the middle. Presumably, the Belko experiment has happened at other Belko buildings as well, and even the army guys were pawns in a much bigger game. An off-screen voice tells us that phase 1 was a success and now phase 2 can begin, then the credits roll.
Will there be a sequel? Not likely, which bums me out super hard. I read a couple of interviews with James Gunn saying that he has the next two films worked out in his head, but it's "up to the fans" whether or not they will get made. Up to the fans? What does that mean? What can we do? I feel like Michael Scott, from The Office. When he wanted to declare bankruptcy, he just walked out into the main room and said loudly, "I declare BANKRUPTCY!" I want to walk out onto my front porch and yell, "I am a fan, and I want a SEQUEL!!!!" If that will help, I'll seriously do it, guys.
Final thought: It's like Lord of the Flies meets the Stanford prison experiment. It brutal, gory, and fun. It's perfect for horror fans. Go watch it!
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