狙击电话亭 Phone Booth review by David Nusair

Colin Farrell is one of the few up-and-coming actors who actually deserves all his success. Ever since his astounding leading-man debut in Tigerland, he's been cranking out one amazing performance after another. Phone Booth, in actuality, was made quite a while ago - right after Tigerland, actually - and was delayed presumably in an effort to capitalize on Farrell's rising star. It's finally seeing the light of day, and despite Joel Schumacher's best efforts, it's not a bad little film.

Farrell stars as Stu, a high-priced and powerful agent who's seemingly always on his cell phone. He doesn't really have much concern for those around him, and thinks nothing of lying to get what he wants (and needs). His daily routine includes a stop to a single phone booth, where he chats with a young woman he's trying to have an affair with (Katie Holmes). He doesn't call her on his cell phone to prevent his wife (Radha Mitchell) from finding out. After making one such call, the phone in the booth rings. Stu picks it up and finds himself talking to someone who knows things he shouldn't about his personal life. After threatening to hang up, Stu is told that if he does so, he will be shot. The rest of the film takes place around that phone booth, as the authorities are called in and Stu becomes increasingly frantic.

It's a simple premise, but the script by b-movie veteran Larry Cohen contains enough surprises and revelations to propel the story forward. And, of course, there's Farrell's completely hypnotic central performance. Even if the screenplay had been a mishmash of cliches and horrible dialogue, Farrell's acting would've at least elevated the material to something watchable. As he's proven in films like Hart's War and The Recruit, Farrell has this amazing ability to make even the lamest storyline seem at least somewhat interesting. He really is one of the best young actors out there, and Phone Booth is certainly a superb vehicle for his ample talent.

But what prevents the film from becoming a crackerjack thriller of Breakdown proportions, is Joel Schumacher's over-cranked sense of direction. Phone Booth's script is so effective it really doesn't need much in the way of visual assistance, but Schumacher's misguided sense of style becomes more distracting more than anything else. His trick of having whoever Stu calls appear in a small window on screen, for example, is completely unnecessary and serves only as an annoyance to the audience.

Still, there's no denying that Phone Booth is mostly an exemplary thriller - a rarity nowadays.

*小建议*如果你喜欢这篇文章,可以顶上去;或者Copy下这篇文章的链接发给MSN或QQ上的朋友; 我们永远相信,分享是一种美德,Great People Share Knowledge... (130影萍网谢谢您的关注和支持！)

上一篇：狙击电话亭 Phone Booth review by ROGER EBERT
下一篇：狙击电话亭 Phone Booth review by Andrew O'Hehir