I'll admit it. I was wrong. When I saw Alice Creed was the debut directorial feature from J Blakeson, one of the writers of The Descent 2, my expectations crumpled to a small heap on the floor and sighed despondently. So when the lights dimmed and the film started, I wasn't sure what was going on. Why was I watching one of the most engaging and powerful opening sequences I'd seen in ages? How come the script and direction were so assured and effectively constructed? The script for Descent 2 had left me somewhat cold, as my review shows, but Alice Creed is in a different league altogether. It's a flawed gem that catches your eye through the pile of crap it's buried in, showing you the potential that just a little polishing and cleaning will bring through - Just like Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave was.
The opening of Alice Creed is almost silent of dialogue. Two men prepare for a kidnapping with ruthless professionalism. Equipment is bought. Doors reinforced. Walls soundproofed. Windows boarded up. Nothing is left to chance. Everything has been checked and double checked. The masks are on, and within moments a terrified girl is thrown into the back of the prepared van. She's barely had time to breath before she's back at the flat, thrown onto a bed and bound, gagged, stripped naked and photographed from all angles.
That's all you need to know about the plot. Alice Creed is a mystery tour best experienced with the same level of foreknowledge as poor Alice herself. The horrible and emotionless efficiency with which the kidnappers carry out their plot and the desperation and genuine fear in the eyes of their victim is hugely unsettling, letting you know anything could happen. This portion of the movie will be disturbing enough to mainstream audiences, but the sexual threat involved as Alice has her clothes forcibly cut from her body, powerless to resist whatever comes next, brought to mind uncomfortable associations with darker and nastier movies like Scrapbook or August Underground. Sure, this is a far less grubby affair than both those movies, but the links are there - especially when one of the kidnappers starts gliding his hand above the unconscious naked flesh of his kidnapped victim, only millimetres from touching it...
It's a nightmarish situation, enhanced enormously by the claustrophobic decision to set most of the film in one location - even more so, much of the action takes place in just one room. Three characters, a confined space, and a highly charged situation. It's a classic recipe for tension, and Blakeson plays this for all it's worth. Firstly, the casting is perfect. Rising star Gemma Arterton gives an excellent and brave performance as Alice Creed, capturing the character's fear and fury as she desperately tries to spot a chance to turn the situation to her advantage. Martin Compston displays he's developed on the potential shown in Sweet Sixteen but it's Happy-Go-Lucky's Eddie Marsan who really steals the show. Fizzling with desperate professional fury, he knows the cost of making a mistake and, God knows, he'll go to any lengths to make sure the plan doesn't screw up. It's this mixture of ruthlessness and underlying terror that makes his the most interesting of the three characters, the mask occasionally slipping down to show a more sensitive and unexpected motivation for his actions.
The plot is driven very much by the characters, for the most part, rather than external factors. The kidnapping is a tipping point that starts to reveal the true motivations behind these people and, as the movie progresses, we discover the true reason for certain actions. Further to this, Blakeson is clearly aware of genre conventions for hostage movies and isn't afraid to subvert audience expectations. Without giving too much away, don't be so sure that the film is slipping into more conventional and less believable territory - it's quite capable of making you think it's heading down a safe and familiar path only to spring a horrible, spike-lined, pit trap on you. As you'd expect, the dynamic between the three characters constantly changes throughout the movie, but it's handled with intelligence and originality.
There are some stumbles, though. A sequence with a bullet casing is clearly meant to feel tenser than it actually is, although the revolting payoff is quite effective. Some may feel the plot has one twist too many, and there's a revelation that's bound to provoke an odd reaction from some in the audience, but that's just personal taste. The biggest problem is the climactic scenes of the film, for me, lacked the sucker punch of the opening. With a start that feels so brave and shocking, the resolution is maybe slightly safer and more conventional than I expected - but that's just cynical old me. I suspect from comments the director has made about alterations he made to the ending to get financing that the original script ended in a far darker place than the finished movie does, which isn't to say that Alice Creed is all sunshine and flowers as the credits roll. Indeed, there's a nicely ambiguous final set of images that bring a whole alternative meaning to the film's title which brought a wry smile to my lips.
I really liked this film, and I don't think my initial comparison with Shallow Grave is unrealistic. Both are excellent movies set in confined locations, with small casts and low budgets. Both have their flaws, but recognise their financial limitations and work out ways to use this to their advantage. Both take an established formula only to subvert audience expectations without pushing the suspension of disbelief. Only time will tell if Alice Creed marks the start of a career as interesting as Danny Boyle's but, on this evidence, J Blakeson should be a name we see much more of in the future. Alice Creed bursts with tension, binding you to your seat like Alice is bound to her bed. Great stuff, and I look forwards to see where the director takes us next.
Review by Paul Bird
| Released by CinemaNX |