The unravelling narrative is incredibly effective and contrastingly snowballs your unease. What follows is an edge of your seat watch while the two switch from hubris to humble in an attempt to hastily escape a living nightmare. “Unravelling narrative is incredibly effective”Īfter a couple of seemingly innocuous but ultimately life defining choices at the start of their hunt things go awfully awry in what, for reasons of intentional ambiguity, we’ll refer to as ‘The Event’. As a spectator, you feel your safety cord to the familiar slowly begin to fray which is nothing new when setting up tension, but the horrifyingly plausible reality in which Calibre is set makes it all the more chilling.
To add to the desperation, it is exposited that the remote area has been under the stress of financial decline for a while, reaffirmed by earlier establishing shots of beautiful yet isolated Scottish scenery. The sense of foreboding kicks in as we arrive in a village local to a reception reminiscent of the Slaughtered Lamb from An American Werewolf in London. I felt that this dynamic is great at mirroring the viewer’s own internal, conflicting conscience throughout the film. Despite being schooled in the same institution, the two allies appear to have forked askew in their later life choices, with Vaughn being the more virtuous and empathetic of the pair. Vaughn is due to become a father and prior to welcoming that responsibility, Marcus arranges a hunting trip to a remote part of the Scottish Highlands as an era ending ritual. Vaughn and Marcus have known each other many years and it’s established early on that the foundation of their friendship required working together to get through some tough times. Watching Calibre for the first time benefits more from knowing less and with that in mind this review won’t spoil the film but will touch on themes, characters and plot points that I suggest discovering for yourself. It might be the advent of YouTube that provides instant, re-playable access to content for upcoming films (trailers for trailers, trailer deconstruction, reaction videos, etc.) or increasingly adopted spoiler-led marketing campaigns, but it feels to me that overexposure to a film has a negative impact on the viewing experience. Now for a brief rant on discovery in film to justify the above approach. Calibre is a visceral and expertly crafted experience that won’t leave you feeling good, but what it does make you feel is tense, uncomfortable and reflective which is an achievement in itself.
Well, perhaps not ‘throwing out’ the rule book, but definitely pencilling in an amendment to conventional structure by opening, rather than closing, with a summary. Director: Matt Palmer Cast: Jack Lowden, Martin McCann, Tony Curran Certificate: 15įor reasons that will be explained shortly, we’re throwing out the rule book for this review.
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