My Review: Penthouse North (2/10)

¨Sarah just tell me where the diamonds are.¨

Penthouse North is a thriller that unfortunately never manages to thrill because of the terrible screenplay. This is one of those movies that you know is going to be bad from the opening scenes, and despite starring two reliable actors like Michael Keaton and Michelle Monaghan the film is really dull and predictable. The film was directed by Joseph Ruben, who is mostly known for his 1991 film Sleeping with the Enemy, but is responsible for other titles such as The Forgotten, Money Train, and The Good Son. Most of the movies he´s directed have been bad, but this is probably his worst film.  Ruben teamed up with the screenwriter he worked with in Money Train, David Loughery, and if you thought the action in that movie was laughable just wait until you see Penthouse North. The only positive thing I can say about this film is that it is only 80 minutes long, but even at that amount of time it still felt long because of how dull the story was. I was excited to see Michael Keaton back in a bigger role (I think the last time I saw him in a lead role was in White Noise) and he is probably the best thing about this movie, but it is still not worth the watch.

Sara (Michelle Monaghan) was a photographer during the war in Afghanistan where she suffered a severe accident in an explosion and was diagnosed with permanent blindness. Three years later we see Sara living in a nice penthouse with her boyfriend, Ryan (Andrew Walker). It{s the last day of the year so she decides to go out to the store to buy some drinks and when she returns she finds her boyfriend´s body covered in blood. The killer is still in the house and  begins to ask her about the whereabouts of the money that Ryan had stolen from him. The criminal´s name is Chad (Barry Sloane) and he holds her kidnapped in her home until she tells him about the money. Michael Keaton also has an important role in this film, but I don´t want to give too much of the plot away despite the twists being rather predictable.

This is yet another failed attempt at a home invasion thriller (as bad as the one starring Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage; Tresspas). The plot is predictable, the dialogues are stupid, and the performances are nothing out of the ordinary. There is no character development whatsoever and the flashbacks with Monaghan´s character are completely pointless. There is no tension at all in this movie and there isn´t even a moment of suspense. Everything is pretty much just unremarkable. This is an early contender for worst film of the year, but no one is probably going to see it anyway.