By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"SEND HELP" TURNS ISOLATION INTO A SHARP WEAPON
Office politics, workplace sexism, entrenched boys' club dynamics, female empowerment, and blood-soaked thrills collide in
"Send Help," the deliriously entertaining survivalist drama from director, producer, and co-writer
Sam Raimi ("Evil Dead," and "Drag Me to Hell").
Rachel McAdams delivers a dynamic against-type performance as Linda Liddle, a sharp but chronically overlooked office worker at a high-tech firm where perception matters more than competence.
Frumpy, underestimated, and routinely sidelined, Linda watches her smug and despicable boss, Bradley Preston (a perfectly cast Dylan O'Brien, "Saturday Night" and "Marceau") promote the company's less-qualified male colleague Donovan, (Xavier Samuel, "Champagne Problems") straight into the position she's earned and was even promised by Brad's father (Bruce Campbell, "Ernie & Emma").
When Linda reluctantly joins the young men on a private jet for a business trip, she's subjected to humiliating jokes and casual cruelty, until fate intervenes in spectacular fashion. After a violent plane crash leaves Linda and Bradley as the sole survivors on a deserted island, the power dynamic shifts in ways neither of them could have anticipated.
What Bradley doesn't count on is that Linda is far more than the meek office drone he's dismissed for years. She's a real-life survivalist with hard-earned skills and a steel spine. Linda thrives in the wild--just watch her kill a wild Boar--while her boss quickly unravels.
Raimi has a dark and twisted sense of fun. He flips the script along with screenwriters
Mark Swift and Damian Shannon ("Untitled Magic Remake") and allows Linda to reclaim control, emotionally, physically, and psychologically, while Bradley clings desperately to his fragile sense of superiority. Everything about Bradley screams spoiled, rich kid.
McAdams is magnetic here, balancing vulnerability, rage, dark humor, and ferocity, while O'Brien excels at making you root against him, at least until Raimi briefly toys with your sympathy before reminding you exactly who this guy really is.
The audience is taken on a roller-coaster ride through both characters' emotional states, though it's Bradley who spirals most dramatically, resorting to lies and manipulation even at his weakest.
But game recognizes game, and Linda stays at least three steps ahead of him, outmaneuvering his desperate plans to send for help and return home to his gorgeous fiancee, Zuri (Edyll Ismail, TV's "Ghosts: Australia").
There's more at play here. A lot more, especially for Linda. I won't dare reveal, but she has a few tricks up her sleeve that you won't see coming.
"Send Help" keeps twisting the knife, and McAdams and O'Brien's fearless performance make every turn a blast to watch. And it's that constant sense of escalation and surprise that makes this movie such an unpredictable, gleefully cruel, and shockingly gory, fun ride.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"SEND HELP"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
