Released: July 2009(USA)
Director: Darryn Welch
Rated R
Run Time: 81 Minutes
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Distributor: Phase 4 Films
Cast:
Sam Page: David Dunsmore
Natassia Malthe: Georgie
David Gant: Mohamed Azis
Michael Maxwell: Robert Dunsmore
Before I begin, I would like to apologize for not getting to my Best Movies of 2019 list. Looking back over my Best Movies of the Decade, I think that was the list that I wanted to end the year on, because it wasn’t any easy one to, having to go through each year and picking out the best one for that year. If you were expecting an actual Best Movies of 2019, you’re probably not going to see it, at least for a while. With that out of the way, it is a new decade. I want to do something special for this month. It is the National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month, made official by President Barack Obama back in 2011. For the next month I want to focus on films that deal with human trafficking in some fashion or another. It’s a topic that I’m very passionate about and something that more people need to be made aware of. Slavery didn’t vanish when Congress ratified the 13th Amendment, proposed by Abraham Lincoln. Oh, no. It went underground and is seen in every country around the globe, even here in the United States. So, to do my part, I’m going to talk about movies that deal with this subject. It’s a backdrop that’s been used by many action movies, thrillers, dramas, and horror movies. I will be reviewing and discussing both the good and the bad. That brings me to my first review of 2020: Slave.
Slave follows young David Dunsmore and his girlfriend, Georgie as they head to Spain to meet David’s father, Robert. Shortly after arriving in the country, the couple head to local club to have a good time. When David comes back from the restroom after a few minutes, he sees no signs of Georgie and nobody in the club claims to know him or her. Unable to persuade the local police to help him, he tracks down a local bartender who says that David’s girlfriend was abducted by the White Arab, a psychotic Russian mobster known for trafficking in women. After telling his father about what happened, David and the bartender set out to rescue Georgie. Before anybody thinks that this film was actually inspired by Pierre Morel’s Taken which was also released in 2009, Slave was actually released in Spain 4 years earlier under a different name: Wish You Were Here. The story is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, but in no way is it as compelling as Taken or other similar kidnapping films. Strangely enough, this is as much of a family drama as it is a thriller, if you can call it that, but none of it was done particularly well.
Part of the problem with this movie is the writing. The concept behind the film is good enough, but the talent that’s required to craft a compelling narrative isn’t there. There are some interesting bits here and there, but for the most part the writing is very sub-par especially when it comes to the characters. Most of the characters are just badly written. The film’s main character, David, is nothing more than a whiny little bitch. Every time he confronts people, he’s constantly told that he’s a wimp. They’re right, he’s wimp that has no backbone. How Georgie hooked up with this loser is beyond me. Georgie isn’t a terrible character, it’s just that she’s not given much to do outside of being someone that needs to be rescued. The most interesting characters in this movie are the side characters. Robert Dunsmore, who is David’s father, is surprisingly given the most depth despite the fact that he comes across as a sleazy drug dealer. The other really interesting character is the film’s villain, the White Arab. This guy is an unhinged psychopath that has no compunctions about what he does.
That brings me to the acting. For the most part, it’s okay. There’s nothing that’s going to win any awards here. Natassia Malthe is decent as Georgie. She’s obviously a beautiful woman and that kind of helps, but again, Natassia isn’t given a whole to do. It seems like a thankless role. The two actors that really seem to be enjoying their roles are Michael Maxwell and David Gant. Michael plays David’s father and gives the character a brutish, slimy, yet charismatic quality that makes you wonder if he’s actually worth hating. David Gant, on the other hand is clearly having some fun with his role as the White Arab. When the character goes ballistic, he goes all out and definitely across as an intimidating force. Sam Page, on the other hand, though, just really isn’t that convincing and I don’t mean any disrespect to the actor. He’s doing the best he can with what he’s given, but what he’s given is a whiny little shit that deserves to get smacked left and right for not having a spine.
When you look at the DVD sleeve of the film, you would expect there to be some sex, nudity and violence in the film. You definitely get some of that, but a lot of it is surprisingly tame compared to other thrillers. The pacing is also way off. For a film that runs 81 minutes, it feels longer than that. It’s too boring to be a thriller, but too tame to be an exploitation or horror film. What we have here is a film that lies somewhere between “meh” and “bleh.” It’s not an awful film, I’ve seen a lot worse. Look, I’m a huge fan of direct-to-video indie films. Some of my favorite movies never made it to theaters, in this country or any other, but Slave comes across as an overly generic thriller that thinks that it’s more than what it is. Not only that, it really has nothing important to say about human trafficking or anything of that sort. It’s something that’s just……there. At most, it’s only worth a rental, if you can find it. If you can’t, you’re not really missing anything.
My Final Recommendation: 6.5/10. It’s not the worst way to spend an hour and a half, but Taken did it better.