"Insert 'The Corporate world is murder!' pun here."
After enduring the Hollywood blandness that was The Darkness, it makes us happy to see director Greg McClean get back to his bloody roots and make another good flick.
We love his Wolf Creek series, and while The Belko Experiment may be a totally different kind of animal altogether, it's a testament to the man's no holds barred, visceral style.
Good on ya, mate.
Maybe directing a movie that someone else wrote, especially a talented guy like James Gunn, was the ticket for him.
The Belko Corporation is a wealthy company that offers plenty of perks to its employees: comprehensive salaries; housing; a company car; and a free tracking chip that gets implanted in their head, in case they're kidnapped. That last one is particularly important at the Bogota, Colombia office, because it's common for employees of big companies to be kidnapped for ransom.
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| ALSO, THERE'S ROMANCE. |
During an ordinary day at Belko, the Colombian national employees are turned away at the gate, leaving only 80 foreign workers (mostly American) in the building. A voice comes across the intercom announcing that in 8 hours, most of them will be dead, and that to have a better chance of survival, the 80 employees must follow the voice's instructions. The first instruction involves the group murdering two of their own in the next half-hour; how they are chosen, or killed, doesn't matter, only that they end up dead in the required time frame. Failure to do so will result in "repercussions."
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| THESE GUYS LOOK READY. |
Thinking it's a joke of some kind, and probably being not very keen to murder any of their co-workers, the employees decide to leave the building, which is promptly sealed off with metal shutters. After a few heads explode, everyone quickly realizes that it's no joke, and they begin to go all Lord of the Flies on each other in a desperate bid for survival.
It ends well for no one.
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| SOME CORPORATIONS JUST WANT TO WATCH THEIR EMPLOYEES BURN. |
You might know where The Belko Experiment is headed early on (I mean it's a movie where co-workers have to kill each other or be killed themselves, so it has to follow a certain narrative path), but the beauty of this movie is that as predictable as it may be, it's equally as bloody and nasty. You'd think that this movie would be funnier, being that it was written by James Gunn (and it does have its witty moments), but if anything it goes to some dark places as per the usual of director Greg McClean.
It's basically a morality play of sorts, asking the question "How far would you go to ensure your own survival?" Could you kill the work friends that you've grown close to over the course of a year? I guess the answer to that question, as horrible as it may be, is yes: you're going before me, sorry. But it's not an easy thing for many of the movie's characters (aside from a few skeevy bastards) to navigate, and that very conundrum plays out in intense fashion.
John Gallagher Jr. is the lead here, but his performance is overshadowed by great supporting turns by his veteran cast mates. Anytime we get to see John C. McGinley on screen is a treat for us. The guy is one of the best character actors out there, and he's particularly good at playing menacing, which he does here brilliantly. Tony Goldwyn makes for an excellent heavy as well, and Adria Arjona was a great heroine.
***BEWARE ENDING SPOILERS***
Our biggest gripe about the movie is that the ending felt a little flat. Sure there's the obligatory set-up for a sequel which was kinda cool, but the reveal of "The Voice", and his explanation as to what the experiment was all about, felt like some half-baked bullshit. There should have been an actual point to the experiment, and not just some lame "we wanted to see what you'd all do" bullshit.
***END SPOILERS***
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| FEW DO INTENSITY AS WELL AS THIS GUY DOES. |
Tons of on-screen bloodshed in this one, where people kill each other in a variety of ways, and dozens of heads explode. It's a brutal spectacle, to say the least.
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| NOT EVEN THE COFFEE POTS ARE SAFE! |
No, because why show some hot Latina girls running around naked or anything?
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| MUY CALIENTE. |
***BEWARE SPOILERS***
As sly as Melonie Diaz was at hiding, and escaping notice throughout the movie, we really expected her to make it... not be shot in the damn head "Departed" style. Gah!
***END SPOILERS***
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| AND WHY WAS MICHAEL ROOKER'S PART SO DAMN SMALL? |
A great movie, and a welcomed return to form for Greg McClean, The Belko Experiment is one that may not break much new ground, but the familiar motions that it does go through are exciting, intense, and all kinds of nasty.
It's easily worthy of your rental dollars.
B+
The Belko Experiment is available on VOD now.
Adria Arjona y Melonie Diaz y Mikalea Hoover son hotties ardientes.
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