The Call

In The Call, 9-1-1 operator Jordan Turner (Halle Berry), haunted by call that ended tragically six months before, has eased into her new position of trainer. But when a rookie operator has trouble with a difficult call, Jordan takes over and tries to coach an abducted teenager through her ordeal by giving her advice for her best chances of survival.

ClearPlay In Action!

ClearPlay cuts just under 20 profanities from The Call, as well as numerous disturbing images involving blood, violence and deviancy (including a partial scalping). The problem is, the subject matter is so unseemly, The Call is really only appropriate for mature audiences, even ClearPlayed. Also troubling is an overall message that I can’t discuss without revealing certain plot elements, but let’s just say it has a tendency to be negative.

Is The Call engaging, or do the filmmakers just phone it in?...

I love what The Call attempts to do: take a single incident and turn it into a tour de force. The protagonists, for the most part, behave intelligently – a plus – but there’s too much that’s predictable, grim, or downright annoying to give it a recommendation. If you like thrillers that lean toward the macabre, it will certainly keep your interest, and almost everything to do with the title call is taut and suspenseful. It’s the rest that will make you want to hang up.

Marty Nabhan - ClearPlay 411 on the 911