MikePA's Movie Review of Compliance

Review: Compliance
MikePA - wrote on 09/09/12

Craig Zobel's Compliance tells the true and disturbing story about a fast-food joint that gets a prank phone call that soon transitions into dark territories and negatively effects many of the store's employees. In Compliance, the fast-food restaurant is managed by the ambitious Sandra (Ann Dowd), and she receives a phone call from a police officer who tells her that one the employees, Becky (Dreama Walker), stole money from a customer. Sandra complies to all of the officer's "mandatory" requests, and takes Becky to the back to interrogate her. Did Becky steal from a customer? She says otherwise. When Becky is given two options to prove herself innocent -- get taken to jail or let Sandra strip search her -- the officer's requests get dark, personal, and quite weird, and they can also have an effect on any other person who gets involved.

It's not much of a spoiler saying that the police officer who called the restaurant isn't a real police officer, but a guy who is skillful with words and very manipulative. This man is terrifically played by Pat Healy, who brings great creepiness and eeriness to the character just through his voice. He brings a strong presence, and that presence can get very unsettling.

As you may have heard, Compliance has been a very controversial film since its premiere at Sundance. It's being called "disturbing" and "uncomfortable" and "important," and apparently people walked out half-way through the film because they couldn't handle it. It's completely understandable why this film would disturb someone. I'm an easy guy to scare, but I'm not an easy guy to disturb, and Compliance didn't really disturb me. That is to say, the film is still insanely good. The film is atmospheric and high in nail-biting tension, with two or three scenes in particular that are gripping. It's unsettling and uncomfortable, and that's mainly because of what Becky has to go through.

Aside from the man on the phone and two characters in the restaurant, these characters are incredibly stupid, and it's a bit hard to get passed that while watching the movie. But I can't really complain about that because this is actually a true event (that happened 70 times, infact), and you, the audience, actually start to buy the fact that they think they're listening to a police officer (mostly because of how manipulative the guy is). But there are a couple times in the movie where you want to just jump in the screen and strangle some sense into the characters.

Compliance is a terrific thriller, made very well by Craig Zobel, who brings a lot of uneasiness and tension to this atmospheric film. It's ambitious and enormously effective. It's well written and acted, with great cinematography and music that add to the movie's tension. You may have some questions that are unresolved, but that may be because it wasn't resolved in the real story. It asks the question, how would you respond to this type of authority? Zobel's amazing execution constantly kept me interested, and I will be looking forward to his future films.

3.5/4