On the Line

I only read the brief IMDB synopsis and a few of the user reviews before plonking down $2.99 to stream this, but I thought it was well worth the money. Best Picture material....this ain't, but it is a solid B-movie and goes to show that you don't need to spend a fortune making a movie as long as you have a creative story and a quality cast...kudos to Mel Gibson and Kevin Dillon for having some fun with their characters.

This title was on a rental sale on the streaming platform I use, but I would have felt equally satisfied if it had cost $5.99. This is only my second review after using IMDB for 20 years. Writing this review is my testament to the entertainment I derived from watching this film and my thanks to all of the people involved that worked to bring this fun film to fruition.

I'm sure I'll watch this again in a few years and I plan to recommend it to several friends.

On the Line by Romuald Boulanger is a resourceful and well-acted Mel Gibson vehicle in which director smartly puts his star front and center for an hour and the half and charisma does the rest.

Mel Gibson's recent output - with the exception of extraordinary Father Stu - consists of so-called geezer teasers which featured him supporting roles simply distributed throughout the runtime in order to make him seem like an important character. However, unlike Bruce Willis whose late pre-retirement output was based around similar projects, Mel Gibson never phoned it in and always did his best even with low-grade material.

Thus giving Mel Gibson the actual spotlight and making the film that really relies on his star power in a leading role is a coup not just for this project but for Mel's fans as well. After a long while, maybe after Blood Father made by another Frenchman Jean-Francois Richet we see Mel actually running the proceedings with authority.

The first act of the picture feels not only genuinely inspired but loads of gallows humour and the genuine sense that Elvis Cooney is a real edgelord feels as if Mel was really hands on even when it comes to the script. In later developments which rely on the closed quarters thriller dynamics and feel slightly mechanical, Mel Gibson elevates the material.

Boulanger surrounds Gibson with an international cast with some great elements but their multiple accents do remind us that film is set in Los Angeles but shot in Paris. Maybe, some decisions could have been different when it comes to either setting or cast, but otherwise the production is resourceful and decently mounted.

In the end, the only element that could have been better is the thriller element. With more inventive set-up, something along the lines of good Blumhouse work and with Mel's performance which is already there this could have been a classic.

Anyhow it's a really good programmer with an inspired turn by Mel Gibson.

I think the movie needed someone with a strong villain voice thats all .voices like keifer Sutherland (phone booth),James spader ( The blacklist) or maybe Michael Sheen (unthinkable). Besides that the movie was not bad at all .Mel Gibson played his part very good as a lead character.i mean its not a bad thing to select or give new coming actors and actresses a chance but sometimes its wise to select the best quality so that your movie can sell. I still have faith in you. I mean Quinton Tarantino invested/picked best characters in Django and took awards for that...I think you can also do better.

A little Die Hard, some The Game, and some good old Mel Gibson fun. While On the Line isn't the greatest movie, it held my interest with non-stop suspense. It is a real nail-biter until you realize what is really happening. Mel does a great job of playing Elvis the Talk-show host, and delivers a good believable portrayal of a man on the edge. The story gets moving very early on and builds to a crescendo that might be a bit too predictable. But still very entertaining. It's good to see Mel Gibson in a decent role again, and while this movie wasn't a Lethal Weapon or a Braveheart it was a pretty decent movie.

I'm not sure why there are so many negative reviews of this, as my wife and I (and she is hard to please) both really enjoyed this film.

Yes, there are plenty of riffs from other films, as you'd expect with this kind of storyline, but that's not unusual in any film, and there are plenty of unexpected twists and turns to keep you interested and the film was ended very well.

Gibson fell out of favour with filmmakers for too long and is now rebuilding his career in later life, and while he is a little hammy at times in this, and certainly takes cues from his Ransom performance, he is still a fine actor and he steers this film along nicely. All of the supporting cast, many relatively unknown, give solid performances, nothing too outstanding, but nothing terrible either.

Overall then, an enjoyable thriller with some cool twists that might surprise you. A solid watch.