Salvage

Man, I'm still not sure how I feel about this film. I didn't hate it - I'll start there.

The plot is somewhat simple. A container washes ashore and something is in it. Something bad enough to send a group of special ops military personnel in to deal with it. But, are they enough? I've misled you a bit, however. That's not the main story.





The real lead here is a mother who is separated from her husband and who has her daughter over the Christmas break. After a really bad start on top of existing feelings of abandonment from the daughter, there's a lot of patching up that needs to be done. Of course, Neve McIntosh will need to do everything in her power to find her daughter and keep her safe while the small town they live in falls apart and it's residents are shot by one side and ripped apart by another. 

Interesting, right? Well, yeah, it was. It was a film that held my attention and that rattled me at times. There were a few jump scares that had my coffee cup sloshing for sure. The acting was great across the board from the major players to the more minor roles. The action and pace was great, rolling from scene to scene with a growing sense of urgency that I loved. Great stuff.

But...here's the (spoiler free) rub.
 
The movie ended and I was really happy with the way things worked out and the way it all wrapped up, but I was left with a sort of Chinese Food Hunger® after about 30 minutes. :)

"Wait...what happened? What....did it......is there more? Did I turn it off too early?" Nope, it's just a fruckin' odd film on the writing side. There are character arcs that are rather complex, then another whole group of arcs that are very strange and minor. The flow was good, but the story was as murky as the water the shipping container washes up from.

It reminded me of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, not that I think about it.  Who are your neighbors? Do you trust them? How about your Government - do you trust them? 

I think this film is well worth a watch. Neve McIntosh turns in a rather powerful performance ad is striking in her "Ripply Like" efforts to save her daughter. Let us know what you think!