The Cinefessions crew loves sharing their opinions on films, but not every movie can get the attention it deserves with a full review. Enter the Cinefessions’ Capsule Reviews. These capsule reviews cover five of the most important aspects of a film, which allow the crew to deliver their opinions on any movie clearly, decisively, and with brevity. These are not our full thoughts on any film, just a highlighting of the major pros and/or cons.

Title: The Call (2013)

Acting
The little girl from Signs is all grown up, and though the majority of the film is her crying into a cell phone, she’s still a remarkable talent. Halle Berry was doing her best to buy into her character, but the script hurts her. Michael Eklund as the antagonist is brilliant, though.

Story & Script
As I mentioned, Halle Berry’s character is just not well-written. She isn’t very likable and her hypocrisy and arrogance as a trainer really bugged me. The love story between Jordan (Berry) and Officer Phillips was a pointless add-on as well. The story is interesting, though, especially if you’re into true crime stories.

Direction
This is the worst part: Brad Anderson can be a great director (Session 9). Instead, this feels more like another above average outing like Vanishing on 7th Street. One moment that really irked me was when he had to reference back to a point that happened earlier in the film. Instead of thinking the audience would be smart enough to make the connection on their own, he had to replay the moment on-screen. That always bothers me.

Intangibles
There are a number of moments where I just didn’t believe the choices that the characters made. This hurt the credibility of the whole film.

Rewatchability
There’s no need to watch this again.

The Verdict
The Call is above above averge, which is incredibly disappointing because Brad Anderson can do so much better. Its one of the better WWE Films releases, but that’s not saying much.