Sans appel

As has been said this was a remake of a Danish film. I haven't seen the Danish film but I have seen something very similar although forget what and when.

Jake G. Puts on a powerful and somewhat over dramatic performance. I say over dramatic because there is a huge mismatch between his acting and eveyone else's and it shows. The gap was far to wide to ignore. From yelling at more senior and experienced staff to throwing expensive equipment around and no one challenged him on it except for a feeble demand for respect from his sergeant, and I do mean feeble and it didn't last long.

This really was a one man show and boy did he put on a show. Unfortunately everything else was just filler to drive it along for another Joe moment. Sure to please Jake fans and I did enjoy seeing top class talent which he is.

I gave it a 6 because it didn't get me where it should have,

The movie is not a 7.

The movie with Jake Gyllenhaal is a 7. This man is the most underrated gem in Hollywood.

I haven't seen the original, but this movie is good enough. With amazing performance by effectively the only actor in the movie.

This story follows the world's most incompetent crisis negotiator, Joe, as he attempts to keep a situation from getting out of hand. When I say incompetent, I mean that thanks to Joe's endless blunders and impulsive behavior, this movie was just one soundtrack away from being a dark comedy. Instead it got labeled a thriller due to the thrill the of pure rage the audience feels as they watch Joe pick one poor choice of words after another.

The acting was pretty good and the story was new to me. The fact that Fuqua was able to make a movie like this from virtually one location and on such a frugal budget is pretty impressive, but come prepared to yell at Joe for being more than a little useless for an hour and a half.

I watched the Netflix film first, and then thanks to the reviews here, discovered the Danish original and watched that too.

The Netflix film is a taught and effective thriller, with a great central performance from Jake Gyllenhaal. It's mostly word-for-word the same as the Danish version. And it's free if you have Netflix!

The Danish version is £2.99 on Amazon. It's less stylish and less melodramatic, but much more believable and affecting. I cared more for all the characters, and despite knowing exactly how it was going to play out, I was hooked throughout. At times I couldn't look away.

The Netflix film adds an unneccesary personal arc, some wildfire-related melodrama, and a set more like a James Bond MI5 office than a 911 (or 112) call centre - all of which reduced the impact and made the film less engaging.

If you're definitely not going to watch the Danish version, the Netflix one is a good bet. If you're ok to watch either, choose the original - it's a lot more suspensful and completely captivating. (Ideally, unlike me, don't watch both!)

Director Antoine Fuqua also did his best with the screenplay he had, and created the perfect amount of non-stop tension and suspense - also due to Jake Gyllenhaal's outstanding performance. The cinematography and score were also on point, and the 90 min runtime and pacing just right. But the story itself was just nothing spectacular and easily forgettable - and written better in other 911 films. There were also too many plot and technical issues, and unrealistic actions and procedures taken by both the police and 911 operators. It's a generous 7/10 from me.