A straight at the corruption Boston policeman loses most of his hearing on the frontline yet remains very active in his professional skills and manages to deal with violent criminals as in Die Hard. The Silent Hour is a finely elongated thriller directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist, Session 9) and bespeaks of the suspense perfection with full thinness. We are now accommodating purposively hard of hearing people. A maze like death trap is a labyrinth where two people are pursued. It is evident that Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman is an action hero on whom one could depend. Viewing a frail armed realistic character who is impeded by his disabilities but is trying to act on the strength of powers of adaptation at a gun’s point where he concerns himself with making attempts towards adapting to the circumstances.
Songs that make use of swing jazz honour a man who is about to leave, Frank Shaw (Joel Kinnaman). He drinks coffee on the 19-story balcony while watching Boston’s skyline. Of late, he wears a certain vantage wineskin with his eyes shut and is peering into the babble of the city. He has just recently gifted his teenaged daughter Sam (Katrina Lupi) a guitar for her birthday. Frank is however so eager to hear her. He puts on his badge and gun to prepare himself to see Doug Slater (Mark Strong), who is a good friend and cop buddy for long years.
Doug appeals to Frank to ease up on his cowboy behavior. They are entering a volatile situation with no cover. Everything Doug was frightened of comes true when Frank goes after one of the suspects without any hesitation. There is a gun battle but the primary injury is not due to a weapon; rather, poor Frank gets hurt and is seen lying face down on the roadside with blood seeping from his ear.
Almost a year has passed in which a lot has changed for Frank. Now he uses hearing aids – which he finds rather hard to wear. He cannot process loud sounds as such for they bring horrible fits of migraines. Sam’s dad is having voice disagreements with Louis and her daughter appeals to her father to practice with their voices. In one form or the other, Frank will have to face the reality of becoming assimilated into the late deafened world. For a brief moment, Frank cheers up and looks forward to being ‘on the field’ instead of on the desk. A deaf witness, Ava fremont (portrayed by wonderful sandy Mae Frank), witnessed two cold-blooded murders. They need to start the detective now on her, and she wants to be interviewed. But there hasn’t been an interpreter for these signs in time.
The top score goes to Dan Hall, the screenwriter, for the superb script he manages to compose. The rub is that the baddies know that Ava saw their evil deeds and how to find her. This is unpacked in a thrilling second act that is replete with many unexpected developments. The primary setting is introduced and that also thickens the plot. Ava is about to be kicked out of an apartment in an almost empty building which is also under heavy reconstruction. One of the last remaining tenants in a ghostly skyscraper. Frank and Doug are stepping into a room with several hidden exits that can be easily concealed.
Sound is a very important factor in the plot of The Silent Hour. The audience is in the mind of Frank, and they hear him which makes his struggles and anger very relatable. A very basing skill of ASL leaves Frank struggling to communicate with Ava. One. She can’t afford to be agitated or hurried while signing. Confusion means certain doom. They must be calm in their minds and act as one in maneuvering to avoid enemies around them and into the building. Their heart rates will increase as they hide, not knowing that their pursuers are already in the next room. The cat-and-mouse game part of the film is so damn stylish.
Kinnaman brings layers to this role and it’s satisfying to watch him in such a formidable role. Of course, it is implied that he is frightening and can defend. It is this profound frustration, this terror and this problem of being deaf that is the worst. The very concept that he will never be able to listen to his daughter play music is something, which cuts him badly inside. Frank ceases to be the police officer that he is and the father he was. By rescuing Ava, he demonstrates that he has not forgotten any sort of goal or has become less than who he was before. It’s the same man with the same problems but with an additional obstacle that can be handled. In such instances, Kinnaman is adept at making action figures more humane. In this case, he is deaf since he is not a cop anymore. Next in the line may be a sightless actioner.
While having Die Hard elements, The Silent Hour can be described as more civilized – Frank is no John McClane running up mass murder in A Holes US Government. The gun fighting scenes were more realistic than many Hong Kong movies. It’s a wonderful shock that when the body count goes down, instead going up. The violence has a tinge of verisimilitude. Those include gun battles and physical combat. Frank and Ava are trying to adhere to the “if you can, run away and save your life” principle. The odds are not in their favor and they would wind up dead trying to defend themselves against their attackers.
In contrast, the villains are not just foolish expendables. Mokhi Phifer gives his best performance as an eloquent villain with enough annoyance. Caldwell knows that there is a limit to how long they can contain a building. What should have just been a punishing sense of defeat becomes a mixed bag.
The stunts in The Silent Hour are no doubt breathtaking but believing in them is not possible. Most surprising is the fact that its biggest reveal was pretty much obvious from act one. They could have easily cast some status updating selfies of their own, something that Frank made clear, and help them escape their predicament. Frank and Ava are easy to cheer for, however, and the tension is brilliantly executed. Then why should one bother to look for deeper meaning in an entertaining and nicely built film with an excellent plot.
The Silent Hour is produced by AGC Studios and Meridian Pictures. By downtown-summerlin.com, there will be a day-and-date VOD and cinema from Republic Pictures on 11th October. Below you can see a clip from the film itself.
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