New in Theaters: "The Call" - Starring Halle Berry

Halle Berry portrays Jordan Turner, a 911 operator who feels responsible for the death of a young girl, in director Brad Anderson's The Call. The film opens with Jordan receiving a phone call from a teenage girl, Leah Templeton, who is being stalked inside her own home. Jordan is successfully able to help Leah avoid capture, but after being disconnected, Jordan calls back, which inadvertently alerts the intruder, who is still in the house, to Leah's whereabouts. She is then murdered while Jordan is on the line.

Six months later, Jordan is now working as a trainer for new 911 call center recruits, but no longer takes calls herself. However, after a rookie operator has troubling dealing with a call from a young girl who has been kidnapped, Jordan must take over and soon realizes that the girl, Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin), has been abducted by the same man who killed Leah. The majority of the film centers around Casey's harrowing ordeal. Her abductor, Michael Foster (Michael Eklund), has left Casey inside the trunk of his car, but is unaware that she is awake and calling for help. However, the cell phone that Casey is using is disposable, so it is not easily traced (I am not sure if that is accurate, but this is a movie, so just go it).

Jordan stays on the phone with Casey during the ordeal and suggests several things that she might do to alert other drivers to her situation. Casey kicks out one of the exterior lamps, pours paint out of the broken lamp and even tries to fight off her attacker. Meanwhile, the authorities are still trying to trace the cell phone and even with the clues that Casey has left on the roadway, the police are still unable to find her. Eventually, Jordan loses contact with Casey and once again hears Michael's voice when he confiscates the cell phone. After the call ends, Jordan decides that she must do everything in her power to save Casey and makes a somewhat surprising decision.

Director Brad Anderson is no stranger to the suspense genre, having helmed the little seen, but outstanding, 2008 film Transsiberian. For the most part, he crafts another solid and suspenseful effort with The Call and, until the final act, I was completely invested in the film. But the crucial final moments lack the taut suspense that was present during the first two thirds of the film and asks viewers to accept a few outlandish plot twists that I, for one, simply refuse to go along with. The Call also benefits from strong performances by Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin, but their efforts are not enough to make up for the debacle that occurs during the final act when it is too late to call for help.