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SHORTCUT
Director: Alessio Liguori Cast: Jack Kane, Zak Sutcliffe, Sophie Jane Oliver, Zander Emlano, Molly Dew, Terence Anderson, David Keyes MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:20 Release Date: 9/25/20 (limited); 12/22/20 (digital & on-demand) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 24, 2020 In a relatively short amount of time, Daniele Cosci's screenplay for Shortcut does a lot in terms of plotting. The story re-invents itself a few times over its course, although its ultimate destination feels a bit anticlimactic and underwhelming. The story begins on a school bus with a group of basic, teenaged archetypes. Nolan (Jack Kane) is the generically ordinary kid, who has an apparently mutual crush on his female equivalent Bess (Sophie Jane Oliver). Queenie (Molly Dew) is nicknamed "IQ," so does it need to be said she's the brainy one? Reggie (Zak Sutcliffe) is the tough guy with a bad attitude, caused by a troublesome home life (The fact his father is in prison is, perhaps, the only significant detail we learn about the background of any character here), and Karl (Zander Emlano) is the husky comic relief. That's all the time the movie has for character development, because, soon enough, bus driver Joseph (Terence Anderson) has to take an alternate route. While stopped to move a dead deer from the road, the bus is hijacked by an escaped serial killer (played by David Keyes), called "the Tongue Eater." In yet another twist, the pistol-wielding murderer turns out to be the lesser of the kids' main problems. To reveal that ultimate antagonist is necessary, in order explain how Cosci and director Alessio Liguori subvert our initial expectations, as well as why the story's final focus ends up being far more routine than the filmmakers' early trickery. Basically, there's a monster of unknown origin that terrorizes and hunts the survivors of its first appearance. The monster looks both convincing and frightening, thanks to some creepy makeup effects, and Liguori stages the ensuing game of cat-and-mouse with effective use of shadows and sound. The child actors, as bland as their characters may be, are quite good, and Cosci makes these characters just clever enough that they're both sympathetic and still in peril. Once the main conflict is arrived at, though, the shortcomings of this scenario become apparent, as the filmmakers' imagination settles on the familiar and routine. A lengthy flashback explains something about the monster and suggests a way to defeat it, but with it, the wheel-spinning of Shortcut also becomes clear. It's a brief movie (less than 80 minutes without credits), and even with that succinctness, the filmmakers struggle to find something to do with this material. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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