When Monica Bryce (played by Katie McClellan) loses her daughter Charlotte (Ducky Cash) during a day at the park, she calls 911. The emergency responder on the other end, Cici (Saidah Arrika Ekulona), immediately petitions Sergeant Phil Casey (Kevin Dunn) to issue an Amber Alert despite the fact they don’t have a license plate number. Meanwhile, business woman Jaq (Hayden Panettiere) needs to get to a meeting but her rideshare driver takes off without her. Fortunately for her, she sees another driver pull up to let somebody else out. Shane (Tyler James Williams) explains that that was his last customer of the day as he has someplace to be. After she eventually bribes him to take on one more fare, their phones alert them to the situation and they happen to see a car that looks like the alleged vehicle right in front of them. They tail the car for miles and miles in hopes to confirm that Charlotte is — or isn’t — inside.
Every parent’s nightmare is to have their child go missing but AMBER ALERT offers multiple levels of that fear. We slowly discover that each character has their own separate emotional connection to the situation and their own individual reasons to find the missing girl, all of which are different. Make no mistake, this is an emotionally layered film and screen writers Kerry Bellessa and Joshua Oram should be commended for that.
Speaking of Bellessa, he also directed, orchestrating the opening sequence flawlessly in order to build the drama before audiences even settle into their seats.
With just one exception, the performances are everything you’d hope for. Panettiere and Williams have the perfect balance of chemistry that their roles call for and the dynamic between Ekulona and Dunn has a palpable-yet-respectful tension to it. In addition, McClellan steals every scene she’s in. I believed, from the drop, that she was Charlotte’s real mom and I felt every ounce of her pain, hopelessness and desperation.
My only issue was with Kurt Oberhaus as the antagonist. He wasn’t bad, by any means, but he didn’t invoke enough fear. The uneasiness that character should create for the audience just wasn’t there. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that he can’t look like a stereotypical child molester or even a creepy, mentally unstable individual. It would give away some of the drama too early so it makes sense for him to look closer to an everyday dude but that’s where a superior actor takes it to the next level. Even in the final scenes, he never invoked terror or dread and that seems like a missed opportunity in a movie like this.
The filmmakers could’ve just kept the focus on the pursuit or on the inconsolable mother but, instead, they smartly featured the process itself. We get to see the tough decisions the police have to make to issue an Amber Alert, the hoops call centers have to jump through once it’s issued and the urgency in which the public feels to respond. Providing the audience with those kinds of perspectives throughout the film only makes the story more compelling.
With emotional performances, an engaging story and clever directing, it starts suddenly, ends suddenly and delivers intensity throughout. Is it a horror movie? No. But, with a late September release date, AMBER ALERT is a perfect Halloween movie for parents everywhere because the sympathetic horror is undeniable. With a stronger performance from the villain, it would easily jump into one of the year’s best.
JKG SCORE: 7.5
Untitled Film Project 