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Drop Review: Strong Performances and Themes Outweigh the Flaws

Drop isn't a perfect film, but it's an interesting concept executed well, and its flaws aren't dealbreakers.

Drop is fueled by the strength of Meghann Fayh's performance and a compelling central theme, but it still doesn't have quite enough gas in the tank for a feature presentation.

Director: Christopher Landon
Summary: A widowed mother's first date in years takes a terrifying turn when she's bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during their upscale dinner, leaving her questioning if her charming date is behind the harassment.

A complaint that you will see often if you spend any time in online film spaces is that no one makes original movies anymore, and everything is sequels and established IP. People will say that in one breath and then admit that the last half dozen films they paid to see in theaters were all sequels and films based on established IP. While the industry and filmgoers could try and thrive on the art of film, in reality, this is a business, and if you want to see more movies get greenlit, you need to support original films. Thus far, this year has not been kind to excellent original movies like Mickey 17, Black Bag, and Novocaine. All of these had a hard time finding audiences last month, and now we have a film like Drop with the same challenge. The premise of the film is neat, but it's also one of those concepts that takes a minute to explain, and given how quickly people lose interest these days, you have to wonder if viewers will be willing to watch long enough to wrap their heads around this concept.

Once you do, it's much more straightforward than even the film is willing to admit. This is an almost entirely single-location film with a small cast of characters. We have one person who is being watched and manipulated by someone around her, but she has no real way of figuring out who it is. The stakes in Drop are very clear, once the inciting incident occurs, and we are watching Violet try to figure out who is messing with her and how she can get out of this situation.

This is very much a slow burn, but it's one of those slow burns that doesn't always work. At times, it feels like Drop is twisting itself into knots, trying to stretch to a 90-minute runtime. The concept of the film works, but you almost have to wonder if there is enough here for an entire film or if a short would have been a better way to explore this idea. As things begin to get more and more tense, the movie eventually throws its hands up and decides to go a bit off the rails. However, considering the pacing leading up to it, it's one of those switches that feels earned, if one that should have maybe arrived a bit sooner somehow.

The thing that really holds Drop together is the overall theme and metaphor being explored through Violet's story and her character arc. It's something that the marketing has done a decent job of not spoiling, so we love that for Universal, good job. There are other aspects of the plot that the marketing has spoiled, which are very much treated as a surprise within the narrative, but hiding the underlying character arcs and beating heart of the film is smart. We're not spoiling it here, but how the writers and director use that theme and metaphor holds the film together. There is also a theme of feeling stalked and harassed through your phone, which is something people have to deal with these days. It's becoming far too common for your phone to become a weapon abusers can use to harm you while violating your agency and privacy. Drop is just taking that idea to its extreme.

This is a one-woman show, more or less, for Meghann Fahy. While she is getting some great backup work from Brandon Sklenar as the unknowing date that Violet is meeting, this is about her more than anything else, and she owns this movie. It works because she is believable both as a hero and as the victim she clearly is when she is first threatened into compliance. The little reactions in both her body and her face as she tries to tell Henry that he's in danger, that she's in danger, and that her family is in danger while also trying to find the person watching her without them realizing that she is looking for them is pretty masterful. Fahy is playing a woman being put through the wringer, and she is very believable.

Director Christopher Landon is becoming something of a horror darling, but he's very much in thriller territory with Drop. He has spoken about how the way the movie is shot changes once the inciting incident occurs, and we essentially shift from what seems like a romantic drama to a high-stakes thriller. There isn't a right or a wrong way to show the audience what is happening on a cell phone screen without constantly panning to the screen itself, but Landon doesn't use little text bubbles. The drops and the text that Violet is getting are large and imposing, and they seem to take up all of the negative space.

There is a great shot where Violet is in the bathroom stall and all of the cameras from her house appear around her, surrounding her in the knowledge that her family is in danger, she can see it, and do nothing about it. It's not limited to just the camera angles or the on-screen text. Landon changes up the lighting and the sound design as well, sometimes turning this restaurant at the top of a skyscraper into what looks and feels like the stage of a play. These changes really help counter those moments when things start to drag a bit as we wait for the next plot point to happen.

Drop isn't a perfect film, but it's an interesting concept executed well, and its flaws aren't dealbreakers. It potentially has great mainstream appeal, and if it's able to find an audience, it will find a diehard fanbase who will love it to death. Everyone else they are going to enjoy the film and walk away, mostly satisfied that they watched an original film that covers important topics that need to be discussed.

Drop

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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7.5/10

Drop seems like it doesn't have quite enough gas in the tank for a feature presentation, but all of the pieces don't quite come together. It's anchored by an overall theme that helps hold together both the parts that fit and the parts that don't.

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