The new attempt of director F. Javier Gutierrez to revive the American version of the well-known horror franchise turned out to be frankly blurred. Initially, the “Bell” was a chilling Japanese story, more than successfully transferred to American screens by Gorb Verbinsky in 2002. The film “Calls” (2017) by the standards of the genre has an impressive budget of $ 25,000,000. For a project from a series that has long lost its popularity, its rental fees are pretty good - $ 83 million. At the same time, the reaction of critics to the third part is mostly negative: IMDb rating: 4.50, Rotten Tomatoes aggregate rating - 5%, and Metacritic - 24.
Plot
As in the previous parts, the girl becomes the main character of the film “Calls”. If in previous times the journalist Rachel (Naomi Watts) tried to reveal the secret of the malicious drowned woman, then in the third part young Julia (Matilda Lutz) took the baton. She voluntarily decides to join the viewing of the ill-fated video in order to save her lover. The heroine discovers new fragments that are not in the original. These passages are intended only for her, therefore, together with her boyfriend Holt (Alex Rowe), Julia begins her own investigation. In this, the heroes are helped indirectly by the guilty of the new outbreak of the "epidemic" Professor Gabriel (Johnny Galecki), intrigued by a secret well.
Rebirth
In general, the film "Calls" (2017), the actors and roles of which are convincingly selected by the types, has a certain share of creativity. This is especially expressed in the plot of the picture, because with the advent of smartphones and high-speed Internet, the threat of the technogenic curse of Samara gets the status of a comprehensive and many times more real. Around the sinister record, a real cult of fanatics is formed, driven by the desire to get enough of the sharp impressions of the feeling of past mortal danger and at the same time prove the possibility of a posthumous existence.
Unfortunately, the implementation of the plan was not entirely successful. During the production process, the creators struggled to bring back previously used techniques into the narrative. It turned out that not evil was reborn, as the slogan of the ribbon promised, but rather good. If in the previous parts the heroes saved family values, then in the third episode the barely born first love was threatened. In 2002 and 2005, Naomi Watts bravely fought for her child. And the authors of the third part, according to cinema experts, did not have enough scripting skills and experience, actors of this level to make the audience believe in what was happening on the screen.
Leading actors
To the actors of the film “Calls” (2017) Alex Rowe and Matilda Luts, who played the roles of key characters in the picture, the entire film crew predicts a brilliant career. According to the director Javier Gutierrez, he deliberately looked for artists with fresh, not-so-familiar faces.
According to the visionary’s idea, the viewer should have believed that the nightmare did not affect any Hollywood stars, but happened to an ordinary guy and girl who can live next door. Luts, despite the seeming defenselessness and fragility, proved herself as a professional actress - extremely patient and strong. Incredible things were done with her, she repeatedly fell, she was pushed, dragged on the floor, but the performer did not back down and did not complain in any episode.
Rowe got a non-standard male role, he played the “guy in trouble” - an image traditionally given to girls. But thanks to his innate talent, Alex did not hesitate and worthily performed difficult work in the frame. The director often stated in an interview with the media that these actors of the film “Calls” (2017) are very promising, and it’s a great pleasure to work with them.
Actor of colossal charisma
If no one expected special miracles from the young talents of the young Briton Alex Rowe and the native of Italy Matilda Loots, then the participation of such masters as Johnny Galecki and Vincent D'Onofrio in the picture clearly aroused the curiosity of the audience.
American actor and producer Vincent D'Onofrio made his debut in Kubrick’s All-Metal Shell, he is known to the artists from the film The Whole World, and to the wide audience by the blockbuster People in Black, in which he embodied the image of Edgar’s redneck and an alien creature , infused into its shell. All the actors of the film “Calls” (2017) admitted that D'Onofrio is a performer with tremendous charisma, his every appearance on the set involuntarily encouraged everyone around him to focus. Each phrase of his character instantly attracts the attention of the beholder. This is a great actor, an incredibly responsible, talented professional, cooperation with which is considered a great honor for every director.
Career turning point
According to many reviewers, sometimes in the tape came to the fore the character of Johnny Galecki, overshadowing the skills of actors - leading actors. Johnny is best known to the public for the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, in which he played Leonard Hofstedter.
In the project of Javier Gutierrez, he also plays a scientist, only a biologist, and in fairness it is worth noting that Galecki’s character got ambiguous. Nevertheless, the performer brilliantly coped with the task, the actors of the film “Calls” (2017) predicted a break in the artist’s creative career after the premiere. According to the participants in the filming process, the viewer rarely sees the actor outside of comedic images, but in fact, Johnny is a born dramatic lyceum. In “Calls”, his character is sinister and sweet at the same time, it is Professor Gabriel who makes the porridge, which later he sincerely repents of. Many years of work on television taught the performer much, but, apparently, it is time for him to conquer the feature film.
That same Samara ...
For actress Bonnie Morgan, trying on the look of Samara was not the first time. She in the work of Hideo Nakata's "Call 2" acted as an understudy for actress Davy Chase in a scene with a well. Unfortunately, her surname was not indicated in the credits of the picture. But in "Calls" the performer shines in all its glory, although sometimes she had a hard time. In order for water to drain from her character’s clothes, Bonnie wore tanks filled with liquid. Daily make-up artists applied her makeup for six hours. Their work was complicated by the fact that streams of water flowed down the body of the actress all the time, so the makeup should have been extremely waterproof.
But the actors of the film “Calls” (2017) Zach Roerig and Amy Tigarden escaped with a slight fright, their characters quickly fell at the hands of a vengeful ghost. By the way, the performers already had experience working together in the television movie "Friday Night Lights."