Amber Alert Review – Race Against Time Thriller Delivers Heightened Suspense

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Category: Film

Published on Wednesday, 25 September 2024 15:55

Written by Janet Walker

Amber Alert, from Lionsgate, brings to the screen a story taken right from the headlines, as a car sharing driver, and his female passenger, become the unlikely heroes in a race against time child abduction thriller.

The film kicks off in heightened suspense, as the pedophile drives around neighborhoods slowly, we see, what the driver sees, some children absorbed in their cellphones, little boys and girls, some playing in the yard, others on the sidewalk, all look like easy targets.

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Then we move to a park, where two children, a boy and a girl, are playing hide-go-seek. The children's mother, Monica, played by Katie McClellan, has her back to the children, and is facing her mother as they are filming her infant.

The black sedan pulls around the corner, and we know what is about to happen. He stops in front of the girl and opens the passenger side door. On the front seat, a life size doll, and the little girl walks toward the front seat and instantly she is gone.

Monica is watching the video her mother filmed of her holding the infant, and in the background, she sees her daughter, Charlotte, played by Ducky Cash, and the open car door.

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The film then cuts to a downtown office, where Jaq, played by Hayden Panettiere, is looking at her phone for information on her car. Just as it arrives, she rushes to the curb, and the car takes off. Immediately, a second car, from the same service, pulls up and drops off passengers, and before he can leave, she convinces him to take her to her destination.

Not long into their drive, the two begin talking, and Shane, played by Tyler James Williams gets a call from his ex, Simone, played by Cruz Velero. Before Shane can take the phone off speaker, she is on him, and we realize his divorce is contentious. We understand he was doing a nice thing for Jaq, for good reasons. Suddenly their phones go off, as an Amber Alert is issued.

Monica has called the police, and Cici, played by Saidah Arrika Ekulona, walks her through the preliminaries, and when they are sure it is a stranger abduction, they issue the alert.

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Shane explains he hates these, and they begin to talk about how these are usually a parent abduction, or they've kept the child out longer than they are permitted. He explains that today is his son's birthday, and video games are expensive. So, one more ride, cash with a nice tip, goes a long way on your son's birthday.

Then Jaq thinks she sees the car, which of course was the most common car in the state and urges Shane to pull up alongside it. She calls 9-11 and the emergency operator, Cici, takes the call, and in seconds after taking the information, including the license plate. She thanks the caller and drops the line. It seems a bit abrupt, almost as if the person on the other end has no interest in the case.

Now, they are at the entrance of the highway, and the message she gave the emergency operator popped up on the LED highway sign, and the suspected abductor blows the light, and in seconds Shane and Jaq follow.

This sets the second half of the film.

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Amber Alert, from the first frame, delivers heightened suspense. It is a race against time thriller, that does not disappointment.  

The ensemble cast led by Hayden Panettiere and Tyler James Williams is riveting as the movie unfolds and we understand the grim reality of the majority of these cases. Katie McClellan delivers a gripping performance as the mother of the abducted child; the authenticity of her desperation is palpable.

The director, Kerry Bellessa, has taken the commonness of child abductions and delivered an intensified dynamic, and intriguing, mystery.

He highlights the Amber Alert system, which has recovered more than 1200 children, since 1996, we also learn the shocking truth that more than 840,000 child abduction occur in the United States, annually.

Engrossing and intense, Amber Alert opens exclusively in theaters, Friday, September 27, 2024. Check local listings. See it.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 90 minutes.

Directed by: Kerry Bellessa.

Written by: Kerry Bellesa, Joshua Oram.

Produced by: Joseph Restaino, Summer Bellessa, Tony Stopperan, Kerry Bellessa, Leal Naim.

Executive Produced by: David Gendron, Ali Jazayeri, Hayden Panettiere, Tyler James Williams.

Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Tyler James Williams, Katie McClellan, Kevin Dunn, Saidah Arrika Ekulina, Tommy Kramer, Ducky Cash, Kurt Oberhaus, Jeffrey Croft II, Crus Velero.