“There are some types of movies that are just very “”me”” movies. I think I’ve finally figured out how to best define that, and it’s usually when you mash up two distinct genres. Action/comedy like 21 Jump Street. Musical/horror like Repo. Comedy/horror like Tucker and Dale Vs Evil or Zombieland. The Belko Experiment seems to fall towards that last combo.
I was sold from the moment the poster caught my eye in the movie theater. It said “”Office Space meets Battle Royale””. Yes, strange and unexpected mashup. Also, total sucker for a Battle Royale ripoff, even if they never come close. Here we’ve got a different spin, adding in a promised element of satire. The American employees at a Columbian office find themselves trapped in their remote building. They’re given instructions over the intercom to kill a certain number of themselves, lest more be killed. You can guess where this goes.
Even though I was completely sold just from the poster, the trailer really put me over the edge. The reason? The cast. It’s led by John Gallagher Jr (from my American Idiot on Broadway obsession). We also recently saw him in 10 Cloverfield Ln. Then there’s Tony Goldwyn, aka Scandal’s President Fitz, and the always radiant Melonie Diaz who we don’t ever see enough of.
My one minimal gripe is that I feel they could have taken the comedy even further. It was really dark and striking humor, but there seemed to be a missed opportunity for even more. That’s okay, because the violence more than made up for it. Sure, it tipped the scales of the mashup balance, but it worked. I certainly had my characters I was rooting for, and the ones I wanted to see die a gruesome death. Obviously one of those desires would win out more often than the other.
So clearly not something for everyone, but absolutely something for me.
The Belko Experiment – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/”