Following Joel Kinnaman’s mute performance in ‘Silent Night,’ he is now seen in ‘The Silent Hour’ as a man who has been rendered deaf in slow motion carnage. The downside is that Brad Anderson as director and Dan Hall as the scriptwriter do not fully exploit the main character’s sad and desperate situation as much as it could be done after he is targeted by a gang of bad guys ending up with him and his deaf sidekick in a ghetto. It is not only devoid of a satisfactory climax that bridges the development of engaging character oriented action scenes, the viewer’s emotional engagement in the story development is also less than optimal.
Detective Frank Shaw (Kinnaman), a divorced father, resides in an apartment tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Boston. There, he can maintain his fitness regimen, listen to his jazz records, and enjoy his morning cup of coffee. He still has expectations of handing the guitar meant for his daughter Sami (Katrina Lupi) to her during her upcoming birthday. However, a significant change is soon to unfold in his life. Frank is out on patrol with Doug Slater (Mark Strong), his partner who is struggling financially, when a suspect leads him on a chase. At the same time, wherever he went, he kept running in circles around shipping containers, and the container’s chase was towards a vehicle. He receives a large scar on the head and a tinnitus like hearing sensation from the trauma that had occurred.
Today, we will examine the progress made by the principal character of the previous part of this movie of key interest. Shaw has almost fully recovered physically and is now actively seeking work. He has been so busy with planning his career that he hasn’t really given much thought to his wife. Unfortunately for the Shaws, this was the catalyst that devastated his wife’s anxiety about returning to work. Almost a year has passed since the accident, and Shaw’s anxiety about returning to the workplace has matured into something more severe. He is wiped out completely, his hearing aids are obstructing his capabilities, and he understands how strenuous it is to convey using sign language in a less congenial environment. Slater, however, remains undeterred in putting Shaw’s career back together and seeks his assistance as an interpreter in the case of Ava (Sandra Mae Frank). She is a deaf ex-junkie who witnessed a murder from outside her apartment in a building that was shortly on the verge of demolition. But just as they were about to answer their loose ends, Mr. Mason (Mekhi Phifer), the gang leader, and his hoods appeared. Shaw saved the girl. The couple is stuck on unoccupied levels in the gloomy city and try to outsmart their assailants by relying on each other’s unique skills his almost criminal sense and her understanding of the ways the building works.
If only their cat and-mouse pursuit was as lively as filmmakers envisioned. Apart from situations in which the two discover how to perform their rendition of a secret knock by utilizing sight, such as moving a dollar under the house’s front door, or knowing exactly when the right moment is to scream the chorus of death metal while invading a cranky neighbor’s apartment, then their deafness is definitely not working in their favour. On quite a number of occasions, it is a liability instead, as in a case of calling for a rescue while stranded on an elevator, or when one is dragged out from a doorway or a corridor and their back has its own eyes turned around. The magnanimity of their embarrassment without a doubt stands out when one of them inadvertently bursts a piece of bubble wrap while the villains are discussing plans in the other room.
Shaw and Ava, despite their disability, still have rather well-worn routines for evading their captors on the inside and the outside, for example going through a fire escape, hiding in derelict lofts, crawling along narrow overhanging ledges and down the stairs that had been designed by Hitchcock. There is a hint of suspense during the elevator shaft scene, but often the overwhelming anticipation just becomes annoyance as the two leads fail to find new challenges.
Anderson and Hall certainly are not reticent in developing their characters for they possess some fascinating inner drives. They even provide powerful criticisms of gentrification, financial disparity and displacement. For Shaw, it’s both personal and professional drivers for him as he balances his career responsibilities and enjoys his daughter’s music performances. For Ava, it’s about the battle against drug use and depression without giving in to grief. Kinnaman and Frank make the mildly interesting parts of the material more engrossing and impressive.
As for gangleader Mason, it is about giving up his life in order to obtain money to provide for the medical costs of his sick daughter. Characterization of Mason’s right hand man Angel (Michael Eklund) is given relief when his character is introduced as being doped to the gills by a medic (Djinda Kane) who is so hot that she deserves a spin off herself. However, there is one aspect of the narrative cohesiveness that is missing and that is the elegant touch associated with the ending of the narrative arc with that specific character that has an air of predictability around it.
The film, in its first act, manages to communicate Shaw’s battles through sound, as the score mimics Shaw’s inner ears or failing hearing aids throughout the film’s runtime. Still, after that it allows only glimpses into Shaw’s and Ava’s lost perspectives once in a while, which in the case of the material, could have been put to better use. Anderson’s workmanlike execution also does the action sequences no favors. His shooting from the hip style of fight choreography and shootouts does little in terms of tension or actual thrills during the viewing. All of this contributes in quite a large manner to the picture having a rather stale feel, when the premise of the picture would suggest something a little more fresher and vibrant.
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