The Belko Experiment (2016)
Film Review
By the Geezer of Oz
In a high-rise corporate building in Bogotá, Colombia, eighty Americans are put through a diabolical social experiment, as they locked in and forced to participate in a twisted game of kill or be killed.
While the premise is interesting and it has a strong cast, including John Gallagher Jr. (Short Term 12, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Hush), Tony Goldwyn (Ghost, Kiss the Girls, Divergent, Insurgent), John C. McGinley (Platoon, Point Break, The Rock, Identity, TV’s Scrubs and Stan Against Evil), Brent Sexton (Flightplan, TV’s Deadwood, Life, The Killing and Justified), Adria Arjona (TV’s True Detective, Pacific Rim: Uprising), Owain Yeoman (TV’s The Mentalist and Turn: Washington’s Spies) and Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Dark Half, The Bone Collector, Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy 1&2, TV’s The Walking Dead), the script is heavily undercooked and the characters one-dimensional, stereotypical and extremely flat.
The plot unrolls too quickly, without giving chance for anything to build and for characters to become known to the viewer. While in some films this approach works, here it does not as it is not followed by delving deep into any one character, let alone a few.
To top it all off, the ending is cliché and predictable. I somehow expected more from a film directed by Greg McLean (Wolf Creek 1&2, Rogue, Jungle) and written by James Gunn (Dawn of the Dead 2004, Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy 1&2), but maybe that’s just me.
Still, it somehow ends up not feeling like a complete waste of time and is an entertaining film, but still a hugely missed opportunity.
Could have been much, much better. 6/10.
