A phone rings, do you answer it?

Very few films focus and remain in just one location, but those that do have to grab your interest and keep you engrossed for over an hour, this demands a great script and lots of tension/drama. On paper Phone Booth isn’t going to succeed as one of those films, for a start it focuses on Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell), an arrogant and selfish publicist, who is contemplating cheating on his wife –not your typical lead character. Secondly it’s about a single sniper holding Stu captive in a phone booth, you only know this from the phone call Stu is having, and later when shots are fired! But despite and because of this the film actually works really well on a number of levels. You watch Stu being tormented by a hidden sniper and slowly you begin to sympathise for this heartless person and even put yourself in his shoes, whilst appreciating just how cleaver the hidden foe truly is. Imagine yourself in Stu’s predicament, how would you cope/escape? Just when you think the situation cannot get any worse, it does, again and again. When police arrive, instead of being rescued Stu now must face tens of pistols and rifles all pointing all at him. Stu is also faced with a moral question. I won’t ruin it for you by giving away any clues to what happens, who lives, who dies, what choices are made, but if you haven’t seen this movie yet give it a go. You may be pleasantly surprised.



7/10