Phone Booth

Phone Booth Cover

Phone Booth is a suspense/thriller film with a strong cast. It was directed by Joel Schumacher (who also directed the good 'Lost Boys' but the bad 'Batman & Robin') in 2003 and at first has quite a simple premise. It's all about a man in a phone booth. But if you look at it in a deeper perspective, it's much more than that, it's about honesty and redemption.

Storyline:
The story is straightforward, a publicist called Stu (Colin Farrell) is initially calling a girl called Pam (Katie Holmes) in a phone booth. He is then disrupted by a pizza delivery man who was sent by an unknown person to deliver Stu the pizza at a specific time of the day in the phone booth. The unknown stranger only known as 'the caller' phones the phone booth and Stu picks up. 'The caller' then threatens Stu, if he hangs up the phone then both Pam and his wife Kelly (Radha Mitchell) will be in danger. Soon it becomes clear that 'the caller' has been stalking Stu and is ready to assassinate him with a sniper from a far distance. Why does he want to kill Stu? Now that would be telling. Overall the storyline is sublime, for such a simple premise, the film delivers an emotional story that will have you at the edge of your seats. After all, it is a suspense film.

Acting:
Colin Farrell plays the main character and I have to say, this is his best movie. You actually feel all of the emotions that he goes through in that tiny little phone booth. Without giving too much away, in one scene he completely breaks down and announces a truth in front of everyone. The emotion he puts into that scene is brilliant, much better than the stale acting we have nowadays. Forest Whitaker plays a police captain and he was mediocre, his role was quite small so anyone could have played his role. Radha Mitchell plays Stu's wife, again, quite a small role but she delivers (it's no 'Silent Hill' or 'Man on Fire'). The actor who voices 'the caller' was so menacing, I shall not reveal the actor's name, yet you can understand why he was appointed the role. The last big star is Katie Holmes who plays a woman that Stu is familiar with, she isn't very good for portraying emotion so thankfully her role is small.

Stu (Colin Farrell) held hostage in the phone booth.

Cinematography:
The camera work was good in this film. There are some scenes where you can see both callers calling each other as the receiver has an inset within the screen. The film is set in New York so there are some good camera shots of skyscrapers and streets. This is a low budget film, and the majority of the film is set in a phone booth, so don't expect amazing camera shots. Matthew Libatique was the cinematographer who has worked on films such as 'Iron Man', 'The Fountain' and 'Requiem for a Dream' so you know the camera shots are good.

Script:
The script was great! This is a short film, at a running time of 77 minutes which to me is an acceptable length. Some may think it is too short but I disagree. This means the script was sharp, there were no unnecessary scenes. Each scene that took place was relevant to the story and grips the audience. If there was any dialogue that I thought was not needed, I would say it would be the beginning scene. Yes it is setting up the story, but I thought it was too long. It's 10 minutes of Farrell talking to contacts on his mobile phone while walking around New York. But as soon as he gets into the phone booth, BAM! The film kicks off.

Final Verdict:
Phone Booth is an excellent thriller with a good cast that I personally think is very underrated. More people should watch this film. It's a short film so you don't have to invest alot of time into it which could be seen as a negative or positive, up to you. Good camera work and great script and to me, is Colin Farrell's best film to date. This means I'm giving Phone Booth...

8.5/10           Play.com: Used = £0.99                     (*At the time of this review)