Send Help | Film Review

When Linda (Rachel McAdams) and her boss Bradley (Dylan O'Brien) become stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash, they have to overcome their differences and work together to make it out alive.

I couldn't really guess what the tone of the film would be based on the description alone, other than knowing it was a horror comedy, so I definitely tried to go in with an open mind.

Unfortunately I didn't love this film.

For a start, as I've mentioned the tone, I really couldn't work it out. It felt like the characters and the world were two entirely separate entities that were forced together even though they didn't really fit.

I would have liked the office scenes to be extended, and the plane crashing scenes to be shorter. I felt like I really wanted to know these characters before we got to the plane crash, or at the very least just Linda. That would have made it easier to connect with them and become invested in their futures.

As it was, I didn't really care about either of them. In fact, I'd say that I actively disliked both of the characters and there wasn't a second where this changed. There were moments early on in the film where I thought they'd become likeable, but they never did. No spoilers, but my ideal ending would have been them both dying on the island.

The dialogue felt a bit disingenuous, none of the characters felt like real people, and I don't know if that was intentional or if I was just taking them more seriously than I should have been.

That being said, the actual acting was great, the actors played their parts really well.

Some of the events felt repetitive. I understand there's only so much you can do with characters with a single location and goal, but the best parts are when things come out of left field. There's only so many times we can watch them explore the same sections of the island.

Something that I felt was missing was a twist or two. This is the kind of plot that would easily be able to trick the audience, use an unreliable narrator and give us some totally unexpected moments, particularly towards the end, so I was surprised that it didn't go in that direction.

Despite being a horror/comedy, I didn't feel the horror of it until the third act. I would have liked to see some of these elements early on, particularly because this actually is a scary situation to be in, and that wasn't played into enough.

Overall, for want of a better word, I just thought this film was a bit weird, and not in the best way. I'm glad I've seen it but I don't totally understand all the love it's getting.

5.5/10