Am I back?? I dunno. Have I the front?? Where do you side?
Am I back?? I dunno. Have I the front?? Where do you side?
Member since:14.08.2002
Reviews:150
Members who trust:77
This is a film that you will be reminded of again and again should you live in a city. How often is it that, when you walk past an empty phone box, the phone inside rings? You might in the past have been tempted to see if it is a wrong number, or something more interesting. Perhaps you would think again having seen Phone Booth.
The movie starts with a silly bit of CGI showing you the route to the satellite your next call might take; this is the worst thing in the film though. The opening credits redeem the whole thing, anyway - huge horizontal tower blocks of lettering floating round Central Park, New York - one half expects Bernard Herrmann music swelling in the background.
Instead we are introduced to Stu Shephard, as played by Colin Farrell. In the modern style, Stu is a part of Hollywood admitting it is inhabited by bastards, as he is a loud-mouth low-life publicist. His 'working' day consists of striding around the Time Square area pitching offer against counter-offer, until he has made someone out of no-one (Eminem seems to be a target in one of the pesudo-stars he boosts when we see him at work).
Meanwhile, his secretary/assistant gets the worst end of the stick, trotting in his wake, juggling three mobile phones and doing all the actual work, all the while getting his dress sense slagged off.
Until Stu breaks away from work, and the busiest part of town, and approaches a metal and glass phone box - the regular type, with a sliding door. Our voice-over introduction tells us he will be the last inhabitant of said booth, and it will be destroyed on the morrow.
It won't be long before we are hearing more than that voice...
This is a very decent concept movie, tying in with recent people-in-peril situations, but turning the idea right on its head. For one, the whole action from now on takes place within the vicinity of the phone box, which is rarely out of frame. It also makes the victim just as helpless as anyone stuck
in a Panic Room, but ironically, they are trapped in broad daylight, visible to many - only crying for help will be fatal.
Stu, we know by now, is a bit of a unlikeable chap, but not that harmless really. It's just he's a bit unkind to people. And someone has noticed that. Someone who has taken care and time and attention to make Stu a third fatality in their anti-bastard campaign (as this is New York, there is no shortlist of candidates...)
Anyway, Stu enters this phone box, and takes his wedding ring off to make a more-than-business call to a brunette young starlet he's trying to hype. She rejects pleas for a date, at first at least, but before Stu can continue with his intended dialing and dealing, a pizza man arrives.
Despite being politeness itself, and merely trying to get Stu to take delivery of the 'pie', he gets a rude sending-off. Again, Stu turns to the phone to continue, when it rings... for him...
On the end of the line is said killer, who has rigged a completely clever situation involving Stu and the phone box, not the least of which is a very high power, laser-guided and silent rifle aimed at Stu throughout.
There then follows what might on paper/op site screen seem like a boring, banal dialogue between Stu and the caller, but believe theediscerning, the script is far sharper than that. The plot, script and baddy are very clever, and at least one step ahead in the surprise stakes.
Should you feel, too, one man in a phone box looks boring, then think again. We have already had some very 24-lookalike picture in picture split-screen tricks, so we could see the contacts Stu makes on his cell phone. And we must remember the whole was shot in twelve days (allegedly) on digital camera. So lightweight, cheap and editor-friendly are these there were up to four of them trained on most takes from different angles and distances, so the visual action is always edgy and fluent.
Again upsetting the person-in-peril apple cart, there is a major case for Stu to not want the real world to intervene between him and the baddy - at least until he's been told what the demands of the situation are. Stu actually proves to be a worrying kind, not liking violence. But when a street hawker's toy robot is used to prove the efficiency of the rifle, he can't help but be rude and palm the poor bloke off with money.
The next problem for Stu is when some ugly, raucous whores from a sex show demand to use the phone, and eventually rope in their burly 'pimp' to sort Stu out. The upshot of this scene is unexpected, and brings in the police, who immediately take to Stu as a very dangerous person, in a situation they would like to eliminate. Our killer, however, is adamant that Stu must stay on the phone until his satisfaction is met.
The killer's motives and intentions don't gel quite as well as his modus operandi, but since when did cinema killers' justifications ever have to be 100% water-tight? However, watching him turn the screws on Stu is the really enjoyable part of the majority of the film.
As Stu, Colin Farrell (again!) proves he really will be deserving his status of a 'big' star, if he has not reached that already. To have two distinctive thrillers released in the UK this spring not only showcase his talent in acting, and being photogenic, but practically means he has a monopoly on the genre.
If we for one minute dislike Stu, we really will not care one jot for the situation he his in. It is a pleasure to report Farrell does not stop forcing us to sympathise with him once. 'There but for the grace of...' says the audience, as his "crime" seems to be not much more than a hurry for the quick buck at the expense of people around him, and a working interest in more than one female...
Also present are Forest Whitaker as head of police. His part is not that great, but he does well with what he has - which is still substantial, as his character and ways of dealing with Stu are not what one would expect, courtesy of the intelligent script.
The two main supporting females are Radha Mitchell (from Pitch Black and, er, Neighbours!) as the girl Stu rings, and Katie Holmes as his wife, who is brought to the scene of the situation when it gets blanket live coverage on the news channels. Both are just extended cameos, really, but interact well with the whole show.
As to who plays the caller, it is a great shame that the makers decided to use some of the twelve days to recast the role and reshoot the end, thus changing the player into someone with a currently well-known voice. Theediscerning refuses to name him, but the secret will not last longer than his first words, which rather destroys the ending of the film.
When the twist-before-the-double-ending happens, the police are led to believe the pizza guy was the aggrieved baddy, but we know that to be way off the mark, even though we neither have seen the baddy. It's a surprise ending that just is not a surprise, which is really the only disappointment.
And so to those makers. Joel Schumacher has a very indifferent career - filming some way over-rated movies, and some that no-one can think of as even half-way decent. So bravo to him, then, for adopting digital technology to create a style that adds to the novelty of the situation here.
The man responsible for the script is Larry Cohen, possibly the only man to make a hit movie about murderous yoghurt (The Stuff). Again, he has made more than his share of awfulness, but with such a CV as his it is no surprise he will hit gold dust now and again. There is also no surprise that he milks his cash cows, either. Phone Booth becomes another dead horse for him to flog to us - his next script, ready next year, is something called Cellular...
This is a high-concept thriller, which really works as edge-of-seat stuff that makes you consistently fail to second guess. It is a great addition to the genre, that se7en so helped kick off - and so enjoyable are these sort of films as opposed to the ultra-budget tosh Hollywood used to make, that the continued rumours of True Lies 2 being made become less palateable with each passing one.
There is little in the way of macho hardware or gung-ho exuberance here, instead a rapidity of creation and complete assurety, all made in the time some big-budget no-brainer would spend choreographing their explosives.
Not once does it outstay it's welcome, which is obvious when you consider it is 81 minutes long. Unfortunately, theediscerning will probably have to see the DVD's extended 40 minutes, as a 2-hour cut exists too. It's always a pity when you cannot report the cinema experience as the best.
It really was a tight call as to whether this got four or five stars below, but loses out just for the silly satellite, and the failure of the shock ending. You just need to wait until April 18th (or midsummer if you live in Iberia!), and go to see it at the cinema. Oh, but turn off that mobile first...
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Thriller - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Timothy West, Neil Morrissey, Tara Fitzgerald, Annette Crosbie, Pauline Quirke, Rob Brydon, Denise Van Outen, John Thomson, Kevin Whately, David Suchet
Production Year: 2002 - Thriller - Director: Bharat Nalluri, Rob Bailey, Andy Wilson - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter, Lisa Faulkner
For a film confined almost entirely to one tiny location,Phone Boothhas been the centre of ... more
a lot of off-screen action: changing lead man from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Colin Farrell, with various directors attached, and finally postponed as a result ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is an arrogant publicist lying his way to success in New York. ... more
Everything changes however when he unknowingly answers a call in a phone booth he's been using to cheat on his wife. Now he is at the mercy of the caller (Kiefer...
For a film confined almost entirely to one tiny location,Phone Boothhas been the centre of ... more
a lot of off-screen action: changing lead man from Will Smith to Jim Carrey to Colin Farrell, with various directors attached, and finally postponed as a result ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
A single phone call can change a man's life...or possibly end it. Stu Shepard is a ... more
self-centered New York City publicist who suddenly finds himself on the deadly end of a high-powered rifle scope. Now it's a real-time race against the clock as Stu must...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Phone Booth [2003] [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78525005.jpg "Phone Booth [2003] [DVD]")
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