Studio: Magnet Releasing
Director: John Hyams
Writer: Mattias Olsson
Producer: Mike Macari, Henrik JP Akesson, Jordan Foley, Jonathan Rosenthal
Stars: Jules Willcox, Mark Menchaca, Anthony Heald
Review Score:
Summary:
On the road alone in the wake of her husband’s death, a woman’s repeated encounters with an unsettling man turn into a harrowing fight for survival.
Review:
Regarding “Alone’s” protagonist, newly widowed Jessica Swanson, I had these thoughts a few minutes into the film:
I’m not a fan of someone in a solo situation having to talk to him/herself or over the phone in order to deliver exposition. Such scenes are always noticeably contrived. (“Hey sis! Charlie and I broke up so I’m heading to the lake to meet Julie this weekend. There won’t be any cell service but don’t worry, I am bringing dad’s gun. Don’t tell him though because you know we haven’t spoken in three years.”) Any other information you want to put on a platter for the audience while you’re at it?
Yet maybe “Alone” needs some similar suggestion because vacant stares while packing her U-Haul or while stuck at a traffic light don’t build a captivating personality. Jessica also listens to an indeterminate audiobook on her drive so we can’t get a clue about her character from music she might listen to either.
Not long after making those notes, Jessica did indeed take a timeout from sullen silence to give her a father a phone call. From this we learn a tiny bit about the emotional despondency motivating Jessica’s abrupt move to a new city. We also learn “Alone” will in fact rely on those afore-feared contrivances to make a movie out of the most common clichés available.
Following a brief game of remote highway Chicken, Jessica finally has her first face-to-face encounter with a mysterious man at the 15-minute mark. Credits only call him ‘Man,’ though later dialogue names him Sam. Played by “Ozark’s” Mark Menchaca, Sam looks like Jason Sudekis disguised in a child killer mustache and wireframe aviator eyeglasses. How else would we know he’s a bad guy if he didn’t immediately emit a distinct impression of Jeffrey Dahmer or Dennis Rader?
In addition to their initial Dennis Weaver duel, Jessica spots the man stalking her at a gas station. He also approaches Jessica outside her motel room, stages a mechanical breakdown to get her to stop in the middle of nowhere, and appears yet again at another rest stop.
These scenes are admittedly tense, getting more mileage out of “what’s going to happen?” suspense than action-oriented sequences do during the back half. Sudden headlights, hidden shadows, and moments of misdirection drown Jessica in unknown danger capable of curling fingers around armrests. Yet even though Jessica’s Spider-Sense tingles during their parking lot conversation and again when she sniffs the telltale signs of a trap at the breakdown site, there’s a disconnect in her defensive behavior that doesn’t make sense.
Jessica sees this same guy in five separate unsettling instances over a span of two days and not once does she think to snap a quick pic or write down his license plate number? Sure, she’s distracted by her grief as well as growing fear. But Jessica knows to be wary about rolling down her window for this weirdo yet isn’t smart enough to take even more obvious precautions?
Since there isn’t enough meat in the plot to put a knife and fork into, basic descriptions have to give away that Sam succeeds in capturing Jessica, although she escapes into the woods for a second-half survival scenario. These scenes also cough up typical tropes such as tripping and falling while fleeing, “will he find her?” moments where Jessica holds her breath, and Sam menacingly shouting psychological taunts.
It looks like the predator/prey dynamic might take a swerve one hour into the movie when a third person steps onstage. But that potential wrench sees a resolution in a few eye blinks before “Alone” resumes its pat cat-and-mouse pursuit.
It’s always a bad sign when you find yourself wishing a movie diverted down a separate thread instead of staying on the simple string in the center. The truth about how Jessica’s husband died introduces an intriguing emotional component but aside from one torrent of tears, we don’t truly see Jessica dealing with that trauma. We also learn Sam has a separate life as a family man. This paves the way for one deliciously wicked sting of revenge during the conclusion except again, we’re left wanting to know more about the impact on Sam’s wife and daughter while “Alone” only wants to engage in repetitive running and hiding.
“Alone” functions fine as a blasé thriller. I just have a hard time understanding how a project can have a dozen people with some form of producer credit, including “The Simpsons” voice actor Yeardley Smith interestingly enough, yet apparently none of them challenged the redundant script by asking, “what makes this different from every other movie about a psychopath chasing someone in the woods?” If it can’t be distinguished from countless similar films, maybe take a pass on a premise where one woman in peril has to overcome a series of oppressing obstacles engineered by a madman.
Review Score: 45
If you want to see impossible amounts of blood explode crimson colors like the world’s worst version of a gender reveal, well, “Abigail” at least has that.