There was a point in Romuald Boulanger‘s On The Line where a character utters the line “Elvis has left the building”, here referring to Mel Gibson‘s character Elvis Cooney, a late-night shock jock who has seemingly made a name for himself due to his on-air pranks and general volatile personality. The line clearly wants to play itself off as a humorous quip, but it only induces a cringe reaction, and is the first of many questionable choices made throughout the 104 minutes this film decides to rob its viewers of.
Just why Elvis leaves the building is due to the absolutely preposterous plot Boulanger has concocted here, framing his narrative as a singular location thriller that builds more tittering than it does tension. You see, Elvis revels in his bad boy persona, but his wicked ways have evidently irked, among others, former employees and, by extension, their loved ones.
Particularly irked is caller Gary (Paul Spera), who rings Elvis’s show to air some dirty laundry, namely about his dearly departed friend who apparently committed suicide off the back of constant taunting from Elvis and his producers. What seemingly starts off as just an unhinged caller turns to a game of cat-and-mouse that puts Elvis, his co-host Mary (Alia Seror-O’Neill) and crew newbie Dylan (William Moseley) in danger inside the building, with Elvis’s wife and daughter held hostage outside the building.
You see, Gary served in Afghanistan, and has enough explosives and technology knowledge to both rig the building with explosives and track the crew’s every move via the station cameras; “Logging into your system was easier than getting my sister’s Netflix password” is akin to the type of dialogue Boulanger deemed appropriate enough to pass off Gary as some type of menacing genius. Or, just maybe, he was intending to make us laugh on purpose with such trite dialogue, which would make On The Line one of the year’s absolute funniest outings and, therefore, highly recommended with a group of like-minded friends who aren’t afraid to down a spirit or two prior to a screening.
I suspect intentional humour isn’t the case here though, and On The Line is just a poorly executed “thriller” that takes what could have been a slickly designed premise (not unlike such locational thrillers as Panic Room or Buried) and undoes any of its potential with laughable dialogue and unconvincing performances; in the majority of his most recent C-grade efforts Gibson, say what you will about him personally, has at least put in the work beyond what they deserve, yet here his obvious lack of interest is on full display, and when paired with the entirely unmenacing vocal of Spera you have a duo that desperately need to be cancelled from their time slot.
As much as the film stretches its thin plot to the point of breaking beyond no repair, its climactic ten minutes really make sure that whatever hold it managed to maintain is bouncy enough to jump the shark. Truly a twist that even M. Night Shyamalan would deem too far-fetched, On The Line hopes by taking such a bold step it’ll generate enough closing interest for people to be deceived into recommending the movie off its wild reveal. Points to Boulanger for trying, but its twist-upon-twist mentality is more insulting than intelligent, with the director ultimately playing the biggest prank on an audience that will reward him with diminishing returns.
ONE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
On The Line is screening in Australian theatres from November 17th, 2022. It is currently screening in North American theatres and available on Digital and On Demand.
