On the Line
Legendary radio host Elvis (who hosts the midnight shift? Despite being the “best radio star in the world”?) gets a call one night from a man who claims he has kidnapped Elvis’ family. He then begins to play mind games with him or he will kill them.
Direction
The directing by Romuald Boulanger is fairly ordinary, and screams limited budget. The one location setting gives a bottle episode of a television show feel.
Yet another film made in France, with clear ‘green screens’ showing the back drop of LA. While other French made/French directed films did it well (The Substance), this is another that does it poorly.
Cast/Characters
Mel Gibson plays Elvis, and he is… fine. If anything he feels as though he is holding back in some scenes and not giving it the all he has in the past. Whether this was a creative choice due to the twist ending, or he was not engaged in the process could be anyone’s guess.
He is joined by mostly ‘up and coming names’ or usual ‘bit’ players who give at times either wooden, or simply terrible performances – so I wont list them one by one.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
I found the overall screenplay a little poor if I am to be honest. From the odd banter/dialogue between characters (Gibson’s Elvis v Kevin Dillon’s Justin), to some even more bizarre dialogue.
The clearly British and European cast is noticeable – and this is yet another recent ‘American’ film filmed in France. Some of the acting by the tertiary cast is completely wooden, and not believable. This could be argued that it is the ‘character’ acting, due to the twist. Speaking of…
THOSE twist endings. Yes plural
I usually am a fan of twist endings – but these are some of the worst I’ve seen in a while. It almost felt as if the writers got to the midway point of the third act, did not know how to finish – and gave us THAT. And then THAT too. Not spoiling it, but it is fairly terrible.
The overuse of the F word is very noticeable – especially given that the majority of the film characters are speaking live on the radio. Extension of belief is only so much.
Overall
Sadly this is not a good movie. It doesn’t even try to be a good movie. Bad script, Bad acting, Bad ending.
Bad
1/5
If you’re able to, please “buy me a coffee”