Rating of
3/4
"Phone Booth" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 05/21/12
When an obnoxious and self-serving PR guy answers a ringing phone in a booth on a busy Manhattan avenue, his world is turned upside down. Joel Schumacher is one of the consummate Hollywood hacks but here revisits the spirit of one of his better efforts, Falling Down. It essentially expands on an idea touched on in Fight Club, in that a someone may actually be forced to become a better person on pain of death. It's the kind of pulpy pot-boiler that is often wrecked by unnecessary padding, but the brisk no-nonsense approach here combines with it's short length to make quite an entertaining off-beat thriller. Kiefer Sutherland's vengeful psychopath who is only represented by a voice-over and a red dot for the majority of the film is the stand-out performance, but everyone involved acquits themselves admirably. The only irritation is Schumacher's insistence on using pointless filters and camera tricks, but hey. He is a hack after all...
