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The Call Up

  • 20162016
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 30m
IMDb RATING
4.9/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
The Call Up (2016)
Trailer for The Call Up
Play trailer2:03
4 Videos
27 Photos
  • Action
  • Sci-Fi
  • Thriller

A group of online gamers are invited to try a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game but things take a turn for the sinister when these masters of the shoot 'em up discover they will li... Read allA group of online gamers are invited to try a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game but things take a turn for the sinister when these masters of the shoot 'em up discover they will literally be fighting for their lives.A group of online gamers are invited to try a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game but things take a turn for the sinister when these masters of the shoot 'em up discover they will literally be fighting for their lives.

IMDb RATING
4.9/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Charles Barker(attached)
  • Writer
    • Charles Barker
  • Stars
    • Max Deacon
    • Morfydd Clark
    • Ali Cook
Top credits
  • Director
    • Charles Barker(attached)
  • Writer
    • Charles Barker
  • Stars
    • Max Deacon
    • Morfydd Clark
    • Ali Cook
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 61User reviews
    • 27Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos4

    The Call Up
    Trailer 2:03
    The Call Up
    The Call Up
    Trailer 2:05
    The Call Up
    Official Trailer - "The Call Up"
    Trailer 2:02
    Official Trailer - "The Call Up"
    The Call Up - Trailer
    Trailer 2:04
    The Call Up - Trailer

    Photos27

    The Call Up (2016)
    The Call Up (2016)
    The Call Up (2016)
    Max Deacon in The Call Up (2016)
    The Call Up (2016)
    Chris Obi in The Call Up (2016)
    Ali Cook, Max Deacon, Tom Benedict Knight, Parker Sawyers, Adriana Randall, Morfydd Clark, and Douggie McMeekin in The Call Up (2016)
    Ali Cook in The Call Up (2016)
    Adriana Randall in The Call Up (2016)
    Parker Sawyers in The Call Up (2016)
    Max Deacon and Douggie McMeekin in The Call Up (2016)
    Tom Benedict Knight in The Call Up (2016)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Max Deacon
    Max Deacon
    • Carl Andersonas Carl Anderson
    Morfydd Clark
    Morfydd Clark
    • Shellyas Shelly
    Ali Cook
    Ali Cook
    • Edwardas Edward
    Tom Benedict Knight
    Tom Benedict Knight
    • Marcoas Marco
    Chris Obi
    Chris Obi
    • Sergeantas Sergeant
    • (as Christopher Obi)
    Boris Ler
    Boris Ler
    • Zahidas Zahid
    Douggie McMeekin
    Douggie McMeekin
    • Adamas Adam
    Adriana Randall
    Adriana Randall
    • Tayloras Taylor
    Parker Sawyers
    Parker Sawyers
    • Andreas Andre
    Greg Kolpakchi
    Greg Kolpakchi
    • Tortured Terroristas Tortured Terrorist
    Jaimi Barbakoff
    • Wandaas Wanda
    • (voice)
    Dino Fazzani
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    Leo Chell
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    Peter Sean Morris
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    • (as Peter Morris)
    Stuart McNeil
    Stuart McNeil
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    Chris Cusick
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    • (as Christopher Cusick)
    Gary John Barber
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    • (as Gary Barber)
    Simon Cooke
    • Terroristas Terrorist
    • Director
      • Charles Barker(attached)
    • Writer
      • Charles Barker
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    National Theatre Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
    8.1
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    Self/less
    6.5
    Self/less
    Interlude in Prague
    6.1
    Interlude in Prague

    Storyline

    Edit
    A group of online gamers are invited to try a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game but things take a turn for the sinister when these masters of the shoot 'em up discover they will literally be fighting for their lives.
    • reference to virtual reality game
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • This time it's for real.
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Certificate
      • Not Rated
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The way the body armour and hit points work is very similar to the ghouls and ghosts gaming series
    • Goofs
      The Sergeant (Chris Obi) has a mixture of ribbons from the Air Force Basic Training Ribbon (on top row for God's sake) to the Bronze Star (on the position of the least ranking -- it is the 20th military ranking of all military awards and is usually found on the top (highest ranking) row. There are other service and auxiliary ribbons that could be from JrROTC to Police/Fire to Foreign. All it takes for wardrobe to set these ribbons correctly is to look up the proper military service "Order of Preference."

    User reviews61

    Review
    Top review
    3/10
    Interesting premise that was poorly executed with bad CGI, acting and soundtrack
    Since IMDb is filled now with fake reviews and comments about this movie I feel compelled to write my opinion, trying to balance the force a little.

    I tried the movie with my kid, I got the title and was very intrigued that it's gonna be an Occulus 3.0 experience or something of the sort.

    I gotta say this, because this is a review and I'm gonna be honest, the premise was good, the first act (the preparation) was solid but the director slipped through it's fingers some errors that are worth checking.

    First of all, this is a movie about Gamers that somehow are living in a future earth, so, they have super advanced smartphones and cards with screens but they somehow have video games with pre-xbox360 graphics (despicted on the game-play from the screen of one of the character's home).

    The movie proceed then to a nice first act in which we see the Gamers prepping for the game. The offices, the suits and the helmets were a nice touch and I must say they were a good fit to the movie (if not one of the strongest points).

    BUT As soon as the actions starts (the first 10 minutes of VR) you kinda see what the rest of the movie will be like.

    The scenery is EXTREMELY limited, the script is non-existent, the "missions" stops being missions and starts being just "walk and kill", not a single video game of this era will support this kind of nonsense gaming, they need to have a plausible argument.

    In this movie, the director switches the argument for the character development, he places all the stereotypical ones, the shy girl, the psycho, the ego-maniac fat guy who lives in the basement, the.. you get the point. Not a single stereotype was missing, this.. was not a good starting point, to be honest.

    Since the movie is all about them, we get lost in a sea of corridors, switching from room A to room B and then to Room C, but then you kinda get the point. There is NO room D ! The whole movie is filmed in no more than 3 rooms, and 1 or 2 corridors with very poor scenery, they even had the guts to film several scenes with the same rooms in the same angle !. IF you're going to film a movie with few rooms at least try to switch angles.

    Tip to the director: YOU CAN make a good movie with no scenery at all, I know you know because this movie seems to follow the same progression as the movie THE CUBE. Yes, you can bet. Those who saw the movie will see the similarities.

    The ending was good but again, too similar to the movie THE CUBE.

    For anyone reading this review, if you somehow liked the premise and you still didn't know what THE CUBE is, go watch it and you'll be amazed, that's a serious SCI FI horror movie worth of your consideration.

    This movie could of been so much better if they hired better actors, Morfydd Clark was the only one doing a good job, all the rest was mediocre, being the guy who acted as "the Sargent" one of the worse actors I ever seen in my life.

    Finally, I would not dare to speak too much about the music because I do really believe that the musician is just incompetent. Trying to make a soundtrack about a VR video game with CASIO tone music from the 80's is only gonna make Gamers more angry at you.

    Gamers are not dumb stereotypes like the ones in the movie, that listen to CASIO tone music, stuck in a basement and still playing 1995 games. The world has changed, video game industry has evolved to a point in which soundtracks are becoming an essential part of any video game. I've seen incredible soundtracks from games where the budget was 3 times less than budget movies so this is really not an excuse to make an horrible soundtrack.

    Talking about FX on this one is like talking about how does a video game looked 5 years ago, because, seriously, the CGI was so bad that my Xbox can render better in-game graphics than some of the scenes of this movie, specially the "exteriors". They could be avoided and we should of get a much better product. Bad FX tend to somehow hurt a movie much more than it should.

    Good movies could be made with almost no special effects and there are plenty of examples out there. As a rule of thumb, if you're not going to produce an acceptable FX, it's better not to do it and hide it, it's gonna be a much better overall execution than to do it badly, tons of directors did great things following this path.

    All in all, the movie premise was good, the execution was really poor, all the middle is just expendable material and the ending is good but since it's almost a ripoff from THE CUBE and others, it doesn't create a rewarding experience.

    The only redeeming factors of this movie are: the first minutes, the concept, some bits of the ending and the legs of Morfydd Clark on that amazing suit, that's it.

    The movie is a solid 3/10 If you somehow are a fan of budget movies, there are WAY better movies out there. You can start by watching Kill Command for example.
    helpful•17
    17
    • tecnogaming
    • Jul 27, 2016

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 24, 2016 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • Official site (Japan)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Simülasyon
    • Filming locations
      • Birmingham, West Midlands, England, UK
    • Production companies
      • Red & Black Films
      • Stigma Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $152,294
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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