57. Blackout

Karl (Aiden Gillen), in preparation for the arrival of his daughter the next day, gets into an elevator at his apartment building, which is currently being renovated.  Joining him in the elevator is a young woman named Claudia (Amber Tamblyn), who has blood splattered all over her face.  As the doors begin to close, a hand pops in between them causing them to open once again.  Tommy (Armie Hammer), with piercings, tattoos, and bandaged fist, walks into the elevator.  They go up a few floors when all of a sudden the power goes off and the elevator stops.  When the lights come back on they realize they are stuck in this elevator.

Throughout the movie, you start to learn more about these characters as the foreshadowing hints at not everyone being a stand up citizen.  Karl's wife committed suicide a while back and he has been raising his daughter with help from a nanny (?).  He tends to go out at night, get drunk, and talk about his dead wife to pretty girls.  Claudia has been taking care of her grandmother while going to school.  Her grandmother says she needs to relax and have more fun and convinces Claudia to go to the beach with her.  On the way to the beach, the grandmother gets hit by a car.  Due to her old age the doctors don't think she will have long to live and Claudia was sent back to the apartment to get a wedding pitcher so that her grandmother could die with her love.  Tommy is a young punk that has recently been seeing a young woman.  When her dad comes back drunk and angry one night he hits her and Tommy comes to her defense.  He convinces her to run away with him and meet him at the airport later that night.

Since the three are desperate to get out, Tommy tries climbing up the shaft to the next open level.  This is easier said than done as Tommy falls back down to the elevator, snapping one of the cords and making it so the elevator is totally dependent on the emergency brakes.  He also ends up breaking his legs.  As time goes on, the people's patience is tried and they become more agitated with each other.  That's when Karl reveals to Tommy while he is high on pain pills, that he is a serial killer and if he doesn't get out soon he is going to cut Tommy's throat and rape Claudia.

Sounds like a pretty good idea but I felt as if something was missing.  Maybe there wasn't enough of a reveal that Karl was the actual serial killer.  He just seemed a little off the whole movie.  I feel like serial killers are better at hiding their true selves because you know I know so many of them (does Dexter count?).  But this might be the first movie I've seen where Armie Hammer didn't seem like such a dummy.  Then there wasn't enough suspense and struggle between the characters leading up to the climax.  It was just lacking a bit.  Then again how much more can you do while stuck in an elevator?

Rating: **

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OliMeNOJjA