The Belko Experiment

Starring: John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Melonie Diaz, Owain Yeoman, Sean Gunn, Brent Sexton, Josh Brener, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker
Directed by: Greg McLean
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Horror, Thriller
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Eighty Americans are trapped in an office building in Columbia and a mysterious voice comes over the loudspeaker system, telling them if they don't start to kill each other, every one of them will be executed.

Review:

Tim: I found The Belko Experiment to be fascinating, even as it was gruesome and overly violent. The film doesn't quite have enough gas to be really great, but it's a different, solid movie. I enjoyed the movie, even as I acknowledged its limitations.

To start off, the movie boasts a great premise. A bunch of workers are trapped inside an office building. They are told that if they don't begin murdering a set number of their colleagues, many more will die. I'm immediately there. I love movies like this- that pose really difficult, thorny issues. It's so easy for someone to say "I'd never murder someone, regardless of the consequences." It's simple when you're not confronted with that life-or-death decision. It makes you wonder- how would you react? Would you be one of the first to commit atrocities to save yourself and others? Would you be the first victim? Would you fall somewhere in between? I was immediately intrigued by the awful premise and was so interested to see how the story played out. For such a straightforward story, there was a good bit of unexpected moments, of twists and turns in the plot. While the story as a whole is surprisingly predictable, while you could guess the destination, the path getting there is fraught with the unseen. That makes a more compelling viewing experience.

The film doesn't have many big names and that works in film's favor. We really need to feel like these characters are regular, average people. Having a movie star among the cast would telegraph- "This is the person who lives." As is, we don't really know who will live and who will die (with a few exceptions). John Gallagher Jr. is the main character, although he's really part of the ensemble. He was fine. I didn't love his performance, but it worked. Tony Goldwyn was a little too one-dimensional and predictable in his role. I loved seeing the great John C. McGinley here. It was fun to see him attack his role with such zeal. He's a little over-the-top, but still fun. I liked seeing Michael Rooker here. He's always so good. Sean Gunn was okay. The rest of the supporting cast is decent, but there aren't a lot of other standouts. One of the issues I had with the performances of the cast is that the characters were too black-and-white. There quickly emerges "good" and "bad" characters. This is also a major flaw of the script, but it does impact the performances. I wish this movie would have given us more shades of grey. The story is ripe for that, but the movie does slip into simplistic depictions of this characters.

The film is certainly violent and gory. It always felt necessary, though. This is a story about brutal violence, so it needed to be shown. A movie like this doesn't work without an R rating. It uses this effectively. I'm not a fan of violence for the sake of violence, but it was necessary to tell this particular story.

The Belko Experiment is eventually not nuanced enough to be truly great, but it does make for an entertaining 90 minutes. It presents a different story, one that really gets your wheels turning. It is helped greatly by the script by James Gunn, but even his script had some limitations that hold the movie back. Still, this is a memorable movie and one that could have easily slipped under the radar. I had fun watching this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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