It’s 1943, World War II continues to devastate the Pacific and in an airfield in Auckland, New Zealand, and RAF flight officer Maude Garrett (Chloë Grace Moretz) needs to get on a flight as soon as possible. O Female Auxiliary Air Force The pilot is carrying a package that contains something filed as “strictly classified” and paperwork that should allow it to pass safely anywhere. None of which makes it particularly dear to the crew of “The Fool’s Errand”, a B-29 bomber bound for the Samoa Islands. Reactions to that last-minute passenger range from hostility to sexual harassment; only sergeant Walter Quaid (Taylor John Smith) shows a little kindness. He even offers to take care of the fragile cargo as it is sent to the plane’s lower cannon turret “for your own safety”.
It is not the vulgar provocations and blatant misogyny that Garrett is hearing in radio communications in his small travel arrangements that worries her. There are some things that seem a little out of this flight. Like, for example, the loose hydraulic cable that she noticed before jumping on board. And the little splinter from the windshield that was broken in the tower. And also the fact that there is a gremlin running along the bottom of the bomber. That 1940s Warners-style cartoon we saw earlier said that these bat-like creatures are just the brainchild of goldbricking soldiers, but to be honest, the one who is destroying pieces of the rifle looks very real to Maude….
For much of the first half, director / co-writer Roseanne Liang’s eccentric mash-up Twelve O ‘Clock High it’s a classic Twilight Zone The episode makes the most of its mystery (what the hell is in that package?) And claustrophobic setting, trapping Moretz’s heroine in a confined space while a grotesque beast slowly turns this plane into a floating fortress of death. What is disturbing is not just that your officer has to defend himself as a furry, ferocious and wildly ingenious rodent slowly dismantles everything around him, but how this “lady” is consistently rejected, discredited and discredited Because she is a lady. No crew member took their first warnings seriously about strange occurrences, unexplained equipment malfunction and sighting of a Japanese fighter jet shortly after they left the base. None of them believes she is a pilot. His claims that something is causing confusion right under the nose of the cockpit are considered ramblings of a lunatic. “Hysterics” is played on it more than once. The extended suggestion that Maude’s nightmare at 20,000 feet here is not a gremlin, but the almost constant threat of gas light is handled like a blunt instrument, which does not mean it is not yet effective. (It’s also ironic, considering that the film’s co-writer is Max Landis, who can understand a thing or two about this concept.)
The men finally return – too late, of course – and we eventually discover the secret inside that carry-on that she’s so worried about, at which point Moretz can go completely Ripley-meets-Rosie-the-Riveter and Shadow in the cloud turns into a semi-roasted casserole. What it loses in provocative metaphor and tension when some of the cards are turned, the film more than makes up for in strangeness; there is a scenario involving a chaotic life-and-death struggle outside the bomber that ranges from agonizing sweaty hands to sublime to ridiculous you-are-kidding-me in seconds. Prospective viewers may want to preemptively put on a neck strap, as this type of whip effect quickly becomes normal.
From that point on, you either give in totally to the palm-friendly vibe of the frantic horror movie / war movie / Pauline Dangers or not, although the second option shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying how comfortable Moretz is still a hero of action all these years later Blast off. A VOD / digital run begins on January 1st, and while this mix of emotions, chills and WTFs that induce the eyes to roll is an unfavorable way to start a movie year, it’s the kind of fun that works best in the haze of a long day journey to the hangover from the night before. It is not bad. It must be better.