Image courtesy of wall.alphacoders.com
Hello, everyone.
Though I meant to upload this review (or at least watch the movie) after Thanksgiving (the 30th, to be specific), I knew I had to get started within the next two weeks, as December 13th of this year had some significance to it as well.
Ten years ago, on November 30th, the lead of this movie tragically passed away. Then two weeks later, on December 13th, the movie itself was released in theaters, although it didn’t receive a wide release.
Therefore, I was not able to see it until it hit DVD a few months later.
This movie ended up being one of his last, and I felt like now was the perfect time to pay tribute to him, especially given how in the years since, I had heard stories about how he was one of the nicest guys in real life. After hearing one particular story that a scene in this reminded me of, it made the fact that he was no longer with us hurt even more.
As if the franchise he was known for wasn’t proof enough that there’s no greater theme than family, this proves it even more.
Ladies and gentlemen, today, we’ll be looking at one of the best performances from Paul Walker with Hours.
Set in the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, the story follows Nolan Hayes, a father whose wife Abigail is expecting.
Before the storm hits, she goes into labor five weeks early. Unfortunately, she dies in childbirth.
The doctor tells Nolan that the baby is in a ventilator, but she has to be in it for two days before she can breathe on her own.
Further complicating the situation is the fact that the hospital has started flooding and the ventilator is not portable. As a result, he and the baby cannot be evacuated.
Making matters even worse, once the power has gone out, after finding an old generator, Nolan can charge it, but the battery only lasts for three minutes… and the problems only escalate from there.
What Worked: While there are other people in the movie, there are only two major names in this.
This feels almost like a one-man show kind of movie, so it’s all on Paul Walker to carry the movie, and he does. His character is very sympathetic, and you really want to root for him to get through the predicament.
While Genesis Rodriguez is really good as Abigail, almost all of her performance is within flashbacks (other than the opening and what’s probably my favorite scene in the movie; I won’t say what it is, but you’ll know when you see it).
However, within those moments, you do get to know the relationship Nolan had with her, and I do appreciate that it’s mostly shown rather than used for exposition.
The plot is very compelling, brought to life through really good writing and direction from Eric Heisserer, who would go on to receive a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Arrival.
One thing that I can definitely give this credit for is the fact that it incorporates a natural disaster that actually happened, but it does so in a way that doesn’t feel manipulative.
In other words, it does it right: It uses it as the backdrop for the story (as mentioned earlier), and that is it. It doesn’t exploit a disaster like a more recent movie I reviewed did*.
For a thriller, it’s very effective. You can view this as a drama, sure, but if you look at it as a thriller, it works better.
It’s also paced very well for a movie that’s a little over an hour and a half.
What Didn’t Work: While it made sense to have the flashbacks in there, I think it would’ve been more effective to have a little bit more time spent with Abigail before she’s rushed into the hospital and ultimately dies.
It goes right into that after the title comes up following the opening credits (which are very brief, I should add).
It felt very rushed in doing that, and it can seem very confusing to be thrown right into the situation without at least getting to know the characters.
While I do really like Benjamin Wallfisch’s score, it doesn’t stand out among his best, especially compared to some of his later works, particularly the work he did on Blade Runner 2049, Shazam!, and The Invisible Man (which I do think is his best to date), and I even liked his score for The Flash.
In saying that, though, there are moments where it really works, particularly in the tense and emotional moments.
Overall: Hours is not only a great drama, it’s a great thriller as well, and one that really does deserve more attention. If you want an excellent performance from Paul Walker, you’ll definitely find it here.
You can also view this as a disaster movie to an extent, since it is set around one. However, while it is set around one, it’s one that actually happened, but thankfully, it handles that setting properly, and I respect that.
While it’s not a perfect movie, this certainly has one of Paul Walker’s best performances, so if nothing else, see it for that.
Next time, we go from a movie about a disaster to a movie with certain aspects to it that M. Night turned into one.
In the Intro, I began the tribute, and so I will conclude it to close it out.
Paul Walker may have been known for Brian O’Conner, but there was so much more to him than just that character. It’s a shame that it took until after his passing for people to slowly start to realize that.
For evidence of that, other than Hours, I would also suggest Joy Ride, which came out the same year Fast & Furious started. He’s also great in that, and I’ve been hearing good things about his performance in Running Scared (which I hear is very underrated as well). There’s another one I’ve been meaning to check out for sometime, but I won’t say what it is… for now.
Regardless of what you see, I not only wanted to review this for its Anniversary and to pay my respects, but I also wanted to show that he had more to him than people may realize.
In closing…
Dominic Toretto may live his life a quarter mile at a time, but Paul Walker made his roles last a lifetime.
Paul Walker
9/12/1973 - 11/30/2013
*David Gordon Green, take notes. It’s one thing to use archive footage (which this does, and that’s fine), but it’s quite another to actually use it as the catalyst for the events to follow over the course of the movie (no joke, folks; his movie did that, I just didn’t put it in the review because that could have been considered a spoiler at the time).