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Detained

Rating: 8/10

Director: Felipe Mucci

Writers: Jeremy Palmer and Felipe Mucci

Style: Thriller

Time: 1 hour and 35 minutes:

Review by Mike Szymanski

Buckle-up for a dark and mysterious ride that takes you on a rollercoaster ride of deception and intrigue. Noirish and simple, this thriller is continuously enjoyable and unpredictable.

Abbie Cornish (from “Jack Ryan”) plays a seemingly befuddle woman named Rebecca who finds herself waking up at a police station in the middle of an interrogation. She is not sure why she is there, but the police are determined to find out.

This psychological thriller is directed and co-written by Felipe Mucci who is responsible for a similar style film “Two Deaths of Henry Baker” (except that’s a Western).

Mucci co-wrote this script with Jeremy Palmer, who penned the wild minimalistic sci-fi thriller “Project Dorothy” (see my review here: https://mikeszythewriter.medium.com/indie-sci-fi-gem-project-dorothy-doesn-t-allow-for-easy-surrender-movie-review-a4c542907aa9 If you liked that, you’ll like this. I like both.

Rebecca thinks she was drugged by someone. They find blood on her car, and she is unsure what happened. Perhaps her amnesia is caused by the severe bump on her head, and she has no idea how she got that either.

After her unfruitful questioning, she is incarcerated with a crazy man who is portayed by Silas Weir Mitchell from “Grim.” He becomes a bit violent, and it becomes more and more evident there’s something of a scam going on not with Rebecca, but with the police.

At the opening scene, a bloodbath of a crime scene shows details of a burnt-out police station with mangled and charred bodies. One victim writes “Jovan” in his blood on a wall before he dies.

Jovan, it turns out, is a legendary criminal who leaves no witnesses behind and is rather thorough at a scorched-earth policy. Think of this name as the chilling utterance of the name of the enigmatic Kaiser Soze from “The Usual Suspects” fame.

Detectives investigating the police station massacre are played by Moon Bloodgood from “Falling Skies” — whose character’s name is Detective Moon — and Detective Avery (Las Alonso from “The Boys”). The detectives seem to be repressing anger toward each other.

Mark this as the 8th tense thriller done by producer Ryan Scaringe, who was responsible for his surprise sleeper “Eradication” that’s now on Tubi.

An accomplished producer, Scaringe formed this team of recognizable actors that include Justin H. Min (from “The Umbrella Academy”), Josefine Lindegaard (“The Comeback Trail”) and John Patrick Amedori (“Dear White People.”)

All Rebecca does seem to know is that she is in big trouble. Her friend Sarah (played by Brenda Wool) comes for questioning and warns her that things are very serious. The sketchy guy she picked at a bar, Robert (John Patrick Amerdori) is brought in for questioning and she doesn’t even know who he is.

And even Rebecca’s lawyer, Isaac (played by Justin H. Min) seems to be a bit nervous about her chances and her weak alibis. In fact, he seems a bit incompetent.

The script is very tightly written, which makes it tough to review without giving away too much of the intricate plot points and twists.

Suffice to say it’s well-acted and won’t disappoint.

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