44 Minutes features fantastic performances from a talented and versatile cast. But its thin plot and premise leave much to be desired.
Four men are imprisoned in a metal cage. They do not know each other. An announcement comes: they have been kidnapped by a cult, and must choose one of them to die. The others will go free. If they do not choose in the next 44 minutes, they will all be killed.
The debates that follow are what you would expect: who is oldest, who has family, who has the most to live for. Alliances are formed, then broken, tensions rise. There’s a conversation about monkeys. And the time to make a decision draws near.
It’s a live action Trolley Problem. Which is fine. There are interesting moments of dialogue and it’s well performed. However, in the last few minutes, we have the big twist, which throws the narrative into disarray. Said twist is very similar to an early episode of a well-known TV show, though this is likely coincidental.
The twist recontextualises the plot in ways that don’t make sense. For example, the audience is implicated in a very specific way. But in the context of what we’ve just seen, the audience didn’t actually get anything they would want. They just watched four men argue for 40 minutes, often about things unrelated to the reason they’re supposedly here. It’s not clear why they would want that. It feels like the implications haven’t been thought through.
The twist also undermines what 44 Minutes is supposedly about. Debates on whose life is worth more or less become irrelevant, because none of those conversations were real. Frustratingly, 44 Minutes would be more interesting, and far more chilling, without the twist ending, exploring its premise to its full conclusion. Instead it cops out, delivering something superficially shocking but substantively shallow.
The strongest part of 44 Minutes is the cast, all professional actors with impressive CVs. Of particular mention is John Billingsley, who brings a genuine warmth and approachability to his role. And Dorian Missick captures the audience as a paranoid and disillusioned cop.
Unfortunately, 44 Minutes is let down by a messy plot that confuses shock value for depth. The cast makes it an enjoyable watch.
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