The Calling (5/10): Its greatest crime is that it doesn't offer anything new to the genre.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

With so many great TV shows about serial killers and police procedurals, it’s hard to find The Calling appealing. It’s getting more difficult to direct an engaging and suspenseful film in just a two hour period because these series have more time to explore the characters and allow us to engage with them. If directors want to have success with this genre it’s necessary to come up with either an intriguing and original story or give the film a unique artistic style. The Calling does neither of the two. This is director Jason Stone’s first full feature length film, and despite having Susan Sarandon in the star role there is very little about this procedural that feels authentic or new. Everything about this film feels recycled from other better movies or series and even the fact that the story centers on a strong female lead isn’t new anymore (Fargo is a film that easily comes to mind) and neither is its sombre tone. 

The film was adapted by Scott Abramovitch from Inger Ash Wolfe’s novel and it centers around a local small town detective named Hazel Micallef (Susan Sarandon) who really hasn’t had much to do during her years of service. She drinks a lot of alcohol to fight her depression and she continues to live with her mother, Emily (Ellen Burstyn) with whom she doesn’t seem to get along too well. One day she discovers a gruesome murder of one of the town’s old ladies and as she investigates the case she is convinced it’s the work of a serial killer. Hazel and her partner, Detective Ray (Gil Bellows), welcome a new and young officer, Ben Wingate (Topher Grace), who has transferred from a big city and is eager to help on the case. They discover that there have been a number of unrelated murders in nearby towns and that these killings all seem to be spiritual so they consult on the case with Father Price (Donald Sutherland). But as they get closer to the killer the more exposed they are. 

To be honest the film does do a decent job at building the suspense and keeping the audience interested in what is going on during the first half of the movie. Unfortunately the film loses its appeal during the second part and the resolution is far from being memorable. It’s unfortunate because the cast is rather strong and Sarandon delivers a solid performance, but her character is a walking cliche and one we’ve seen represented in movies many times before. The talented Donald Sutherland and Ellen Burstyn are completely wasted in this film and they could’ve been given much more to do with their roles instead of simply showing up a couple of times on screen. There simply isn’t anything here that makes The Calling stand out from other films in the genre, and that is its greatest crime.  

The Age of Adaline (5/10): A flawed romantic tale.

"Tell me something I can hold on to forever and never let go."

 

At first glance one might assume that The Age of Adaline is a failed adaptation of a romantic novel that tries to cram the different story elements into a two hour film, but in reality the screenplay was written by J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz directly for this movie. Having a narrator explain the reasons for the main character’s miraculous secret for not aging enforces even more that intuition that the film is a book adaptation and they’re simply trying to summarize as quick as possible the premise for the movie so they can move on to the love story. Unfortunately the screenplay is actually the greatest problem in The Age of Adaline. It seems as if director, Lee Toland Krieger, could’ve used Rashida Jones’s help with the screenplay because this is a step down from his previous collaboration with her in Celeste & Jesse Forever. If you want to watch a unique romantic film, then I’d recommend that movie over this one because The Age of Adaline is full of predictable twists and the romantic story is a bit rushed. The film never really sells the fact that a 100 year old woman should be depressed for having to push away the people she loves because she doesn’t age (I’d understand if she were much older, but a hundred years doesn’t sell it for me).

A narrator (Hugh Ross) introduces us to Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) who was born at the beginning of the 20th century, but after having experienced an accident doesn’t age anymore. After eight decades she remains looking like her 29 year-old self. The only one who knows her secret is her daughter, Flemming (Ellen Burstyn) who by now is an old lady who has to introduce her to everyone else as a friend. Adaline has been changing her identity every ten or so years moving from one place to another never allowing herself to fall in love or tell her secret to anyone, but things change when she meets a young philanthropist named Ellis (Michiel Huisman) who quickly falls for her and relentlessly begins to pursue her with his unique charm. He invites Adaline for his parents’ (played by Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker) 40 year anniversary reunion, and that is where Adaline has to decide wether she should reveal her secret to him or continue running like she has been during all these years. If you’ve seen a decent number of romantic movies in the past, you will probably be able to predict where all this is heading. 

The reason why I put so much emphasis on the screenplay during the first paragraph of this review is because I actually enjoyed the performances from the cast, but the weak screenplay is what ultimately brought it down for me. Blake Lively and Michiel Huisman deliver believable and charismatic performances and they do have strong chemistry together, but everything seems to be rushed for the purpose of getting to the twist in the story and when it comes you already were expecting it. Lively plays her character with grace and elegance and you can tell time has made her wise. She wouldn’t fall in love with a simply charming and good looking guy, and Ellis easily proves there is something more about him. The relationship is believable, but it doesn’t take its time to build on it. Harrison Ford is incredibly refreshing in this film and he has some strong scenes with Lively and Baker. There is something quite disturbing about the twist that isn’t ever addressed and that is what I found more disappointing than the actual predictability of the story. The performances were all great, but with a better screenplay this could’ve been a stronger film because it does look beautiful. Overall I had a decent time with The Age of Adaline, but I can’t get past some of the flaws so watch this at your own risk.