Take Thirteen: Drop
Drop, is the story of a widow and single mother named Violet (Meghann Fahy) on a first date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar) a guy she met over the internet. Early in the night, she starts receiving random “drops” on her phone that turn out to not be so random and escalate as the night progresses. When she receives drops from her home security camera footage of her son, Toby. She finds herself at the misery of whoever continues dropping her these critic messages as she is forced to commit act after act or her son will play the price. And the person responsible makes it clear that they have their eyes on her.
From jump, Drop had me. The opening credits are really cool. It’s very Hitchcock or James Bond as various objects fall, or are dropped towards the camera.
We also get a trope that I credit J.J. Abrams with, where we are “dropped” into a perilous situation and get that “three hours earlier” shtick.
From there, we hit the ground running. I count THREE left-handed people, Violet, Henry, and their waiter, Matt! No, this doesn’t factor into the plot, but bonus point. Setting it in Chicago, another bonus. I really enjoyed the style of humor and snappy banter between characters.
The introduction of of anxiety to the plot is a little telegraphed, but well-handed and puts you in the right state agitation for what is to follow. The first scare is a good one.
The movie also acts as a bit of a whodunit and places suspicion on just about everyone at some point.
And on a side note, Brandon Sklenar looks like a young, male Kirsten Dunst, first Spider-Man era, SERIOUSLY. And yes, there is a piano version of “Baby Shark.”
Love and love love everything until the end. There is some nice symmetry that I really appreciated, but there is a bit of a logistics issue that took me out. Having lived in Chicago for several years, I know for a fact that there ain’t NO WAY a sequence of events could have occurred as is depicted in the movie. Yes, it is supposed to add to the tension and suspense, but it REALLY was a bit unrealistic knowing what I know. Minor issue, I know.
That bit aside, this was a really fun thrill ride! My score, a 9.
What did I you think? DROP me a line…
And until next week time…
