Dying To Work There..."The Belko Experiment"

The Belko Experiment (2017)

Rated R

Starring John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn

Directed by Greg McLean

The Story:

An office in Bogota Colombia suddenly transforms into a prison as all the windows and doors are sealed. Then a voice (Henry) calmly instructs the workers that they need to kill a fellow co-worker in the given amount of time...or else.

So begins a twisted corporate version of kill or be killed, brought to you by the guy who gave us the fun and wholesome Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn.

It's a twisted day at the office, to be sure, and as the voice tells us at the very beginning, most of you won't survive the day.

That's an understatement.

While you have an idea of who the lone survivor might be, it's still an occasional jolt as each person meets their untimely demise.

Some pre-meditated, some accidental, some just by chance and happenstance, the movie grabs you and carries you along for the ride until the very end.

No huge stars in it, though I suppose Michael Rooker might take exception to that, but lots of familiar faces abound.

Won't go down as a cinematic classic in the horror or thriller genre, but still worth a peek.  It will likely become a cult classic like Gunn's other works (Slither).

 Final Grade: B-

The Future Is Decided By Facebook Personality Quizzes... "Divergent"

Divergent (2014)

Rated PG-13

Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Miles Teller, Kate Winslett, Tony Goldwyn

Directed by: Neil Burger

The Story:

In a dystopian future (is there any other type?) the survivors of a war that ravaged the world (or at least America) have been divided between 5 factions to keep the peace.  You have Amity (Peaceful), Erudite (intelligent), Abnegation (Selfless), Candor (Honest) and Dauntless (Brave).  Each has its role in society and keeping the peace, and when children come of age, they take a test to see what their aptitude is, but they still have one last choice that they can make at a ceremony.

However there are those that the test does not work on.  They are called Divergents, and they are being dealt with, permanently.

Welcome to the latest Young Adult fiction to be turned into a trilogy (or larger) movie franchise.

The story centers around Tris (Woodley) who is a Divergent growing up in Abnegation but just doesn't feel it like her parents (Judd & Goldwyn).  At the ceremony, her brother chooses Erudite and Tris goes for the Dauntless.

Needless to say, their parents are a bit crushed.

The Dauntless then initiate the newbies into their ranks under the lead of Eric (Courtney) and Four (James).  Only they are upping the ante and kicking out the worst recruits as the tests get harder.

If you are kicked out of a faction, you become one of the faction-less, which is the future buzz-word for the homeless.

Not only does Tris have to survive her training and remain with Dauntless, once she learns that she'll be targeted if anyone finds out she's a Divergent, well, that takes the last half of the movie to unspool.

Believe me, it's a long movie also.

While she doesn't have the charisma or chops of Jennifer Lawrence, the rest of the cast, especially Four, try and keep the audience engaged.

However, some poor casting choices on several of the characters end up making several people irrelevant in the overall scheme of things because they are very difficult to tell apart from one another.

Final Grade: C/C+ range

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I didn't love it, but I hardly hated it.  I'll be back to check out the sequels.