Customer Reviews

Blackout

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Blackout had me "knocked out" throughout the duration of the movie,so boring and the flashbacks make the plot dumber on top of that the scenes with salt and the lady cut up was unnecessary. Is the movie about being in a elevator stuck? or going through various flashbacks and then finally the best part of all is when the Movie ends! What happens to the bad guy other than that,a snooze.

What a huge disappointment this movie turned out to be. Once I learned the premise of Blackout, I couldn't wait to see it - I love these movies where people are put in a terribly stressful and agonizing situation in which hope eventually dies. Even though getting stuck in an elevator isn't quite the dangerous stuff of a Frozen, in which three skiers are trapped for days on a ski lift, that particular circumstance certainly ranks highly on my personal "I hope this never happens to me" list. Just being trapped is bad enough, but then one of the three turns out to be a serial killer - that should turn the claustrophobic intensity up a few notches. And then I saw that one of my favorite young actresses, Amber Tamblyn, was in the movie. Yep, I was totally stoked for the Blackout experience. When the movie got off to a slow and disjointed start, I didn't worry because I knew the fun wouldn't really begin until our three characters stepped into that elevator together. Then they got on the elevator - and the fun still didn't begin. After that, it didn't take long to realize that Blackout was going to be a great big dud, and even Amber Tamblyn was powerless to overcome such a bad script and method of presentation.

Blackout has a myriad of problems. For one thing, none of the characters are particularly likeable to begin with, even though we're given reasons - gradually, via ill-timed flashbacks - to sympathize with each of them. Dr. Karl Maddox (Aiden Gillen) is a widower on his way to do something for his little girl before she arrives back home the next day. Claudia (Amber Tamblyn) is dealing with the impending death of her beloved grandmother. Tommy (Armie Hammer) is putting a plan into motion to remove his girlfriend from a bad situation at home. Oh, these poor people - yet, for some reason (bad writing) I felt nothing for any of them. I don't believe the group dynamics were ever adequately established (due in no small part to the flashback scenes destroying anything resembling a rhythm), and I found the eventual emergence of the killer's identity and murderous intentions to have taken place somewhat too abruptly. Even the climactic, life and death moments of the film manufactured little in the way of thrills or suspense. It all adds up to quite a disappointing viewing experience that never generated the atmosphere it needed in order to succeed.

I hesitated at first when checking out this film. I've seen some bad films and I've seen some really bad films. This isn't either or of those. This is actually a really good film depending on what your expecting to get out of it. For the simple minded they probably won't like it. The movie has more dialog than anything else. I don't think the movie is trying to mask the secret of who is the killer. You can pretty much tell as soon as everyone gets on the elevator. The only thing the movie does is clarify who the people on the elevator are and what they had ongoing in their lives up untill that moment. It added a lot of depth to what could have been shallow characters you didn't care about but, learning about them did make you concerned for their safety. This isn't exactly a horror film it's a suspense film. It's more or less a movie about 2 people trapped in an elevator with a serial killer who's breaking down. Weither you know he is a killer or not doesn't matter the other people don't and that's where the movie gets interesting.

Creative movie 4 stars for being different.

Wow, after seeing to many bad movies lately in the theaters, this is a fresh thriller! The best since the original Blackout. Highly recommended.

Ok this movie was really bad. It's hard to explain except for the fact that it just wasn't any good. I mean 3 people stuck in a elevator. After about 5 minutes you realize who the Killer is. They try to get some shock value from a couple of gory scenes later on in the movie.

So unless your afraid of Salt( you will understand what I mean if you watch this garbage) Pass on this movie and just watch Baseball instead.

I viewed this after comming home from My Bloody Valentine showing and its a good little movie.A man who works in a hospital,another man who carries a knife,and a woman who has asthma are trapped in an elevator when the power goes out during the summer.Like caged animals loosing air,no food and one bottle of water these three are trying to survive anyway they can.Its brutal but enjoyable.

Movie ? Blackout oh that snoozefest with three people trapped in an elevator.. yawn. How long would I last with this crew before I started to freak out, began eating one of them and beating the other 2 to death just out of sheer boredom ? I love the idea of this movie and I think the acting is fine the movie is to slow.
Skip it and see "M. Night Shyamalan", "Devil", it is very much like this but better and heck it's the Devil not some dim-witted serial killer.

Three strangers are trapped in an elevator and they all have their reasons to hurry. They are Claudia (Amber Tamblyn), Karl (Aidan Gillen) and Tommy (Armie Hammer) - and these three ordinary persons might not be what they appear.

"Blackout" directed by Rigoberto Castañeda begins with an intriguing premise, and then quickly loses steam and stalls out. "Blackout" clearly wants to be a psychological thriller between Claudia, Karl and Tommy, perhaps something riveting like Polanski's "Death and the Maiden." But there is little dramatic tension in interactions between the three characters. After all, all they can do is wait in, or attempt to get out the elevator.

However, the main storyline about the three characters in a stalled elevator is frequently interrupted by flashbacks (revealing what they had been doing prior to the elevator accident), so the inside of the elevator car looks hardly claustrophobic. Also, because of this heavy-handed narrative, we don't feel the lapse of time, which should be one of the key factors in creating tension. Moreover, the back stories of each character are not very interesting, and even worse, it is predictable.

It is reported that the film was originally 120 minutes long. I just saw the 85 minute version. Sorry to say this, but 85 minutes is still too long.

If a good thriller calls for isolating a group of people with a killer in their midst - the scriptwriters of this film found the ultimate setting. Three people are trapped in an elevator here. And one of them is a serial killer.

However, this is no slasher-thriller. It's a more intelligent psychological thriller with an emphasis on character. Actually, I think this movie has an even better premise and unfolds in a more interesting way than its producers intended.

There's no full Director's commentary on this DVD. However, there are interviews with all the people primarily involved in the making of "Blackout." These people seem unanimous in thinking their movie is about "fate" or "destiny." They see the finger of fate at work in the fact that their movie's three lead characters all have unusually urgent reasons for getting where they are going - yet find themselves infuriatingly bound inside the elevator. I can't see the sense of that. It could be said that any three people being trapped together in a dangerous dynamic would similarly represent fate at work. Or more generally, any of the trillions upon trillions of daily, shifting configurations of people, things, and events could be designated "fate."

No, I think the value of this movie is in the way it limns the obsession of a serial killer. There have been so many movies and TV episodes featuring ever more far-fetched serial killers. But this film makes the viewer feel what must surely be the arrogance, the hatred, and the ravening, voluptuous intensity of most real serial killers.

You can tell "Blackout" is going to be something special with its opening credits. These are filmed over an extreme, lingering close-up of human skin - papillae, pores, blemishes and all. It's clearly the sort of intrusive fascination that a killer probably feels when he sets his sights on a victim.

You have to sit through 60 minutes of people thinking back on their recent days memories, in order to get to 20 mins of some mild action. It was painfully slow and easily predictable.