One Way

The good: they tried to make something exciting and thrilling, so I give them credits for trying, but in the end they utterly failed at making a thrilling crime story.

The bad: the story. The story is just not credible and kinda tedious, however much they have tried to make it look thrilling, the story is an empty shell.

How long can I stay interested in a character travelling on a bus? ONLY if the leading actor had been a terrific actor, this movie could have had some merit, but now it has none.

Kevin Bacon on the other hand IS a great actor and he does perform well (as usual) but he cant save this movie.

The story: a criminal has fled on a bus and now other criminals are chasing him. Lots of talk talk talk, little to none thrilling action.

A guy is on a bus, making phone calls. There is a lot of tension, people in the bus that somehow get involved, he sitting around people that can hear him call in a bus that is totally empty, and a lot of people answering the calls. That's the whole movie.

I guess the film was constructed as an actor vehicle for Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly). Pun not intended, even if the entire film is happening on a bus. I can't say the acting or direction were particularly bad, but the film was a snooze fest with no characterization at all. I mean, the bland overused cliché of someone stealing money and coke from dangerous criminals doesn't arouse interest, especially if you care nothing for what happens to any of the people in the film. Add to this the limited background of the action and you get something really boring.

I haven't watched Phone Booth, but I heard of it when deciding not to watch it. If I knew this film was in the same vein, I wouldn't have watched it either.

Bottom line: only watch it if you like Machine Gun Kelly, as both Kevin Bacon and Travis Fimmel are supporting actors with little screen time.

This is a waste of star power. Kevin Bacon and Travis Kimmel can't pull off a stunt that would make the film a little likeable.

The storyline has all the makings of compelling drama centering on the relationship between estranged son and his father, and between an estranged husband and his wife and daughter. It simply lacks the gravitas to make it work. After a while, it becomes rather formulaic.

The idea of setting it on a moving bus has been done before. Remember 1994's Speed starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves? That is an example of a thriller that keeps the viewer's rapt attention all the way. With that as the standard, this film really falls short of expectations; the opportunity for a good film is squandered.

That's two mediocre Kevin Bacon movies in a row for me... he was great in both, the rest of the cast, not so much. The story, directing and editing was pretty b-level. I hope this isn't a dip/end to his career that has him doing "whatever" comes his way, just for money. Again, he looked great, the overall movie was just not good. I thought he was going to be a main player in the movie, he ends up on the short end. Not great for an actor that was as good as he was for as long. Hopefully he does a better job vetting the scripts that he decides to film going forward. I usually love what he does, I'd hate to see him go out on a sour note.

To be honest, this somewhat exceeded my expectations. I thought this was going to be a total stinker, (it had the Bruce Willis vibe to the description and box cover). Knowing that Bacon was just going to be a side character for small scenes, perhaps my bar was set so low going into it that it actually didn't seem too bad. The all-around solid acting made up for many shortcomings on the technical side. Acting and actor restraint good if not great. Script pretty decent, but the technical side could have been better. By that I mean the runtime was a bit long per the total content and plot devices. In other words, it was a reeeeally long bus ride and a bit too much cell phone talking. "Action" on electronic devices (computers, tablets, phones, etc) is boring, but this didn't cross that line completely. Also, the camerawork seemed amateurish. Focal games, blurring, cascading, and finally the dreaded shaky/bouncing cam that rarely locks onto a still frame so you can focus on it. In summary, I think it was as good as it could have been for what was written, with the technical and editing work holding it back.