Occasionally in the course of writing about movies you find a rare gem of a film that no one has ever heard of. This is not one of those movies. Instead this is one of those movies that angers you when the final credits finally appear. It angers you because you know the people involved are capable of so much more at least in the actors on the film. They're better actors than what is on display. ISOLATION is just that sort of movie.
Creighton and Lydia Masterson (Luke Mable and Tricia Helfer) are a couple with problems. Creighton had cheated on Lydia but came clean and is not trying to salvage his marriage. Lydia is willing to give him that chance. He presents her with a trip to the Bahamas and the home of a wealthy client. Things go awry when they discover the neighbors are beginning a restoration project and creating quite a racket. His friend comes to the rescue sending his daughter to escort them to an alternative, a small island nearby he has a retreat at.
It seems the perfect place and that first day they meet neighbors they weren't aware of, William and Mary (Stephen Lang and Claudia Church). Invited to dinner the couples seem to hit it off, even after learning that William and Mary are sort of on the run. Years before they were convicted of selling grass and ran away to their island retreat, bothering no one and enjoying life on the island. After a little too much to smoke and drink, Creighton and Lydia head home to discover their house has been broken into and all of their luggage, food, passports and everything else stolen.
The next day they go looking for a phone to call the mainland and come across Max (Dominic Purcell) who offers to give them a hand. He takes them to his place where they meet Nina (Marie Avgeropoulos), his companion. When the phone seems out and they can't get a signal, Max takes Creighton out in his boat in the hopes of reaching one. Before long the question of who can be trusted and who is not what they seem come into play and a life and death battle is the end result.
This movie crawls along at such a tedious pace that even if you watched it in fast forward you would find it difficult to stay awake. The writing is terrible, the pacing painful to suffer through, the camera-work passable and the locations which should look like Heaven on earth look like the film was shot in the off season. It is filled with far too many expository scenes, travelogue styled sequences that encourage no one to want to travel to the Bahamas and do little more than fill out the 86 minutes of screen time that feels so much longer.
Helfer whose star was on the rise with her appearances in both the reboot of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and BURN NOTICE has fallen into more roles like this for some reason. She's a capable actress and deserves better. Purcell has come from the successful series PRISONBREAK into far too many movies like this before returning to a successful TV series in DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW. Again, he's a much better actor than the roles he's being presented with. I'd suggest new management for both of these actors. Lang is another in a line of actors on display here that can be amazing to watch and yet Hollywood never seems to know what to do with him. His career has seen highs like TOMBSTONE and AVATAR but then gone to lows as well. Last year he starred in the highly under-appreciated DON'T BREATHE. Again, get a better agent because you deserve more than this.
I can't think of anyone who would enjoy this film. It's not even a good bad movie. It just sits there and does nothing, offers nothing and the best I can see it accomplishing is being a good doorstop but only if nothing else is available. As I said, for me it left me angry because of the talent that was wasted in what could have been at least a decent movie. Instead it makes Ed Wood look like a talented director.
9 out of 13 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
