Studio: IFC Midnight
Director: Randall Okita
Writer: Adam Yorke, Tommy Gushue
Producer: Matt Code, Kristy Neville
Stars: Skyler Davenport, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Pascal Langdale, Joe Pingue, George Tchortov, Natalie Brown, Emily Piggford, Laura Vandervoort, Kim Coates
Review Score:
Summary:
With help from an Army veteran guiding her over the phone, a blind woman must defend a secluded home from a group of thieves.
Review:
Sophie Scott’s personality can be described as “prickly.” To some extent, her abrasiveness is understandable. Once an Olympic-class skier, Sophie became blind. Now she and her shattered dreams have to live with a mother whose constant concern seems smothering, and she ekes out a living doing odd jobs. She’ll often help herself to something that doesn’t belong to her though, so Sophie isn’t above exploiting those who have sympathy for her situation.
She’s also not above getting overly defensive about that situation. I mean, okay. I can see how a former athlete accustomed to assertiveness might develop an angry “I can take care of myself” attitude when compassion comes off as condescension. But cab drivers regularly carry bags for passengers all the time. It’s part of the job, not a pitying insult when one of them offers to save you some time by helping to get your things to the door. Take the simple favor, Sophie. I would.
Sophie’s eager desire to pick fights with anyone acknowledging her handicap extends to Debra, the wealthy woman Sophie has come to a secluded mansion to cat-sit for. During initial introductions, Debra offhandedly mentions she “was worried” about hiring her. Anxious for a confrontation, Sophie quickly spits, “Why?” Well, no offense Sophie, but um, you’re blind. Surely you can understand why someone might be reasonably concerned about your capacity to care for a small animal prone to hiding all over an enormous house you’re liable to get lost in yourself, no?
Debra follows up with an offer to give Sophie the lay of the land, including pointing out where pet food is. Sophie dismisses her with a curt, “No, I’ll find it.” Once again, this is normal stuff, Sophie. It’s not the least bit unusual for a homeowner to provide a tour before leaving you alone in a house you’ve never been to before. It’s especially weird when the very next thing Sophie does after Debra exits out the front door is to FaceTime a friend who can guide her around the property.
These chilly moments aren’t meant to put an audience off to Sophie, even though they kind of do. Rather, they’re intended to establish her as an independent person who isn’t a totally helpless damsel about to be in distress. By nature of the premise however, she can’t be all that independent. Once she offends the friend she called first and ends up locked out of the house, Sophie finds herself forced to use ‘See for Me,’ an app that connects visually impaired people with operators who can guide them through ordinary tasks. It’s more than a little dubious that these operators with presumably minimal training will apparently help anyone break into a house with few questions asked as well as provide advice on directly dealing with dangerous intruders. But hey, “See for Me” is a movie. Sometimes you’ve got to roll with a questionable setup, otherwise there wouldn’t be a story.
As far as heroic charm goes, Sophie might be a slightly sketchy protagonist. Nevertheless, she’s infinitely more appealing than Stephen Lang’s entirely deplorable character in the “Don’t Breathe” films. On that basis alone, when it comes to a blind person battling a trio of thieves trying to rob an isolated house, “See for Me” leaps high above “Don’t Breathe” (review here).
Better though it may be, it isn’t all wine and roses for the film. More than a few sequences amount to little more than clichéd cat-and-mouse tiptoeing. Such stale staging is as tiring as it always is, although it can be considered standard padding for this sort of thriller. Reliance on routine still pushes “See for Me” toward the slow side. Tightening the tempo by cutting quieter sides at either end of the action would result in a greater supply of suspense, rather than the average amount the movie currently carries.
Although they get ruffled by a DTV feel, other feathers in the film’s cap include a plausible enough plot and a spacious floor plan that lends a good look to the single location. This isn’t your usual remote cabin in snowy woods, even if the movie occasionally follows in formulaic footsteps. And besides centering on someone you can side with without feeling too skuzzy, “See for Me” also ups “Don’t Breathe’s” anemic ante by featuring entertaining twists that aren’t sensationalized swerves. Those surprises put an intriguing spin on the home invasion concept, and that comparative creativity is something I often pine for since no one will ever do straightforward better than “The Strangers” (review here).
Review Score: 65
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.