One Way

I was at first reluctant to the idea of watching this thriller. The topic sounded so lousy and predictable that I did not feel it at all. But a friend of mine told me to try it, because it was worth...Actually the main character, a petty thug, junkie on the run, had nothing to excit me that much...Not my cup of tea. But to please my friend, I decided to risk ninety six minutes of my precious time on this movie. And I finally did not regret it at all. You have a gorgeous female kingpin, as Kate Winslet in TRIPLE 9, who is absolutely surprising - but I know that the female badass characters is the new fashion. The directing is very professional, well monitored, the acting OK too and Kevin Bacon is also excellent in an unusual role. Not a glorious one. And the ending very unpredictable too. So, to summarize, I was damn wrong at first sight, when reading the scheme of this story. Damn wrong, my instinct, for once, failed.

I actually enjoyed the movie despite its many flaws.

Visually the film is very bleak with grey being the predominant colour of presentation. It's use does work in some parts but it does drive the films mood down too far over a sustained period.

The film's acting is pretty poor with two notable exceptions, Kevin Bacon and MGK. They are both exceptional. The film would have been significantly better if they had shared more screen time.

Where the film really struggles is its pacing. It spends most of our time in one location and so it does get boring, making a 90 minute movie feel much longer :)

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.

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.

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.