HEFILM
The direction is unimaginative and the location so confined that it would be dull even on stage. Visually there is just nothing going on. Then dumb things start to happen. The wife could try to move her seat back or tilt the seat back to free her legs. But neither of them ever think of this. The Husband's escape attempt ends up making no sense. The villain of the piece when revealed isn't much either really and that's when it gets really silly and drive-in-movie-like.It's just the same two people talking and taking naps. One of them evens says that early on when they are stuck "I'll take a nap." "Good idea" the other responds. How exciting or tense is that? (They are both pretty good actors but can't do much with nothing.If you're doing a movie like this the whole thing is to put you there trapped in the car with these people. This movie the camera is always outside looking in. Make the most visually out of your limited setting (see Twelve Angry Men and Lifeboat for how really great directors make gold out of the opportunity) For a film called THE WRECK they don't even show you THE WRECK itself, a cost effective fade to black and sound fx are all you get. Lacking all tension or blood except the start of the husband's escape attempt. Ending has several equally WTF elements to it.Well-acted, poorly written and directed time waster that is pretty much a waste of time, much more effort needed to be put into creating tension. This would be a poor 30 minute film as it stands now.Recent film FROZEN has some of the same problems. Why would a director do a film like this if he/she wasn't up the challenge of trying to create tension and horror out of a confined place and situation? Instead both directors seem either lazy or just plan clueless.
lerner-3
"The Wreck" can equally well describe the car crash that is the plot of this movie or the movie itself. If you read the plot it might sound interesting at first: man and pregnant woman are stuck in a car after a crash. You might think to yourself that sounds like a good start, and the plot should take off from there. It doesn't. That one line plot is the whole movie. It starts with The Wreck and ends with The Wreck. The rest of the time they are waiting to get rescued, with vague hints that something sinister might happened in between. Admittedly, the beginning is more like a preview of what is to come, rather then the start of the movie, so you could equally well call the story of what happens before The Wreck either the beginning of the movie or a flashback. In any case, this part is pretty thin. The main objective is to introduce the disgruntled bother whom the woman left for the man.So then the trip begins. The woman is not due for 3 weeks but starts having contractions so they decide to turn around. While they are stopped and deciding what to do there is a strange man standing in the road in front of them. This is a good start. Your first thought is that it must be the brother. But the two don't recognize him so it can't be. So they turn around and head for home. That's when The Wreck happens. Like everything else in the movie, it's hard to tell exactly what happens. But maybe a tree is down over the road and they swerve and go off the road. The two are trapped and can't get out. The woman's legs and the man's arm are pinned somehow. Again, very hard to tell. You can see the woman's legs are under the dashboard but who knows why the man's arm is stuck. Later we find out the doors won't open either.Whatever happened your first thought is the guy standing in the road. We hear a vague report on the radio about an escaped murdered. But then they just sit there and no one comes to threaten them. So much time elapses you think maybe it was just an accident. Later we see vague images of someone walking around. The woman thinks someone is out there. Then another day passes or something. Nothing.Then there is the tension about the woman having the baby. She seemed just about to go into labor before. Even her water breaks while they are trapped. You wonder what's going to happen if she starts to deliver while her legs are stuck. But again, nothing.I may have given away spoilers up to this point but here is the real spoiler. I'm doing this to save you the trouble of watching this to the end. But if you are intent on wasting your time don't read any further.Finally, the man decides to cut his arm off in order to get out of the car and call for help on the phone he dropped out the window by accident. Just as he does this his brother shows up. Your first thought is that he's not there to help, and that's true. But what is his role in everything? Was he the guy on the road? No. Was he the escaped felon? No. Was he the guy sneaking around the forest? Did he cause the accident? Well apparently no and no, because he says he happened upon the debris and found the car and thought about helping them then changed his mind. So everything else that went on was all irrelevant and this brother who was disgruntled but otherwise normal with no history of psychopathic behavior turns out to be a sadistic killer. What's more, he just happens to find them. Was he out looking? Doesn't that mean he was looking to help them? Then he finds them and thinks "well I've been looking for them for days and here they are. Wait, I know, instead of helping them maybe I'll torment them." He makes it sounds like he was driving home one day and happened by. Out in the middle of nowhere? Without going into any more detail, they manage to kill the brother and the man dies, apparently, though that's unclear too, but not before calling for help. The paramedics arrive and they call a doctor for advice about the pregnant woman. He tells them save the woman not the baby. Apparently, this leads to the woman stabbing herself in the throat. Why? Again, apparently, to save the baby because you then hear the paramedics talking about a postmortem C-section. Wow, really? Who would have thought killing yourself would allow them to successfully deliver your baby. I'm no doctor, but, really? I'm mean I'm sure it's possibly but who would think the chances are great enough to stake your life on? What's more, it's not clear the man is dead. The paramedics start treating him and never say he's dead. If he lives, couldn't they just have another one?The only good thing I have to say about this movie is it's short. Maybe I made the ending sound like an interesting philosophical question, but that part took up about the last 30 seconds of the movie after the main climax with the brother was over. Thumbs down.
