Putting characters into a single space, applying a few narrative rules, and then seeing what happens is nothing new, and at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, we’ve already seen Ben Wheatley have some gleefully relentess fun with his entirely warehouse-set “Free Fire” (our review). And just a couple of days later comes “The Belko Experiment,” directed by Greg McLean (“Wolf Creek”) and penned by James Gunn (“The Guardians Of The Galaxy”), neither of whom are slouches when it comes to genre fare. They also put a bunch of characters into a single location, but with the rules of the game constantly changing, any interest in what happens soon starts to evaporate as the movie devolves into relentless carnage.
Things kick off with what seems like an ordinary day at the office for the employees of Belko. The non-profit company operates out of a rural, gated compound located outside of Bogota, employing a strong contingent of American workers, who are implanted with a tracking device in the event they are kidnapped for ransom. It’s an odd requirement of being hired, but it soon becomes just one of the dangerous elements that come into play one morning when the company’s Colombian colleagues curiously don’t come in, and impenetrable steel shutters roll down over all the doors and windows, locking the American employees of Belko inside. It’s a development that’s certainly strange, one that becomes much more alarming when a mysterious voice announces over the intercom that in order to live, employees must murder two of their fellow colleagues, or face being killed themselves. And it isn’t long until panic, paranoia and desperation start to set in.
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Conceptually, “The Belko Experiment” seemingly offers some interesting ethical notions to play with, primarily that doing right or wrong doesn’t have to change, even if the stakes of a given situation are potentially life-ending. But any rumination or exploration of those themes lasts about as long as it took me to type that sentence, as the movie eventually puts its competing points of view into two broadly drawn characters: executive and former SAS trained Barry Norris (Tony Goldwyn) who is willing to kill some to potentially save many, while seemingly having no problem playing God in deciding who lives and dies; and office worker Mike (John Gallagher Jr.), who believes in trying to find a way out of what’s happening without resorting to taking any lives. However, compounding the film’s lack of intellect is a constant shifting of the goalposts. Sorta of like an omniscient Jigsaw from the “Saw” films, the voice on the other hand of the intercom offers newer and deadlier games for everyone at Belko to play in order to save their lives, and it eventually results in the backend of the movie devolving into mostly forgettable bloodletting. The ideas that rotate around the value of one life over another are ultimately obliterated by a wave of violence in which no one is safe, but also in which few aren’t playing anything more than Fleeing Victim With A Single Quirk.
For example, the exceptionally talented Melonie Diaz is The New Girl Who Spends Most Of The Movie Hiding, while Adria Arjona is The Love Interest, John C. McGinley is The Perverted Version Of His Character From “Office Space,” Josh Brener is Basically Big Head From “Silicon Valley” again, while James Earl is The Good-hearted Security Guard, and Michael Rooker is Doing A Favor For James Gunn. It’s not that everyone needs to be wholly rounded with a backstory, but a film like this becomes so much more interesting if it’s operating within some moral grey area, than in a place where the line between good guys and bad guys becomes firmly defined. And with this cast, the more complex version of this premise would be far more interesting, and still provide plenty of opportunity for the thrills studio executives want and that audiences expect.
However, as “The Belko Experiment” stands, the simplistic approach becomes increasingly less engaging the higher the body count rises. The filmmakers have nothing to say about the violence that unfolds, fully content to keep it strictly in the sphere of genre fare, not even attempting any subtext to what unfolds onscreen. And certainly, not everything needs a political statement or deep thematic resonance, but with little in the way of characters worth caring for, the empty thrills of the movie don’t add up to much, particularly when undercut by the occasional ironic music cue (early on, a Spanish language cover of “I Will Survive” pops up on the soundtrack — get it?).
Barely running ninety-minutes long, “The Belko Experiment” often feels like a half-formed sketch of a script brought to life, rather than something that warrants a tiresome sequel tease at the end. The film not only traps its characters, but also corners its story, with the ‘Experiment’ by Mclean and Gunn not allowing any room for variables that might bring some inventiveness to this otherwise steel-shuttered bore. [C-]