Joel Kinnaman has already had enough films to his name as an actor, one a bit better than the other, but in general neat films come out. Last year Kinnaman starred in Silent Night, although that film was not too much of a great. Next to Kinnaman we see Mark Strong. This British actor really has a lot of good movies on his way. So the combination should be able to produce a nice movie, but at first glance the trailer is not really convincing. These kinds of cat-and-mouse games movies have been made a lot in the past of course, then it also becomes difficult to get original. It doesn't really get original anywhere, but the film certainly has its moments and manages to get exciting here and there, although that needs to be nuanced. Because the tension is often turned upside down by predictability and that is deadly in films like this.
Frank Shaw is a cop and of course a very good one, with every imaginable cliché you can think of. For example, someone pulls a weapon, Shaw knows how to immediately mention the model of the weapon and how many bullets are in it. If the criminal flees, Shaw also counts how many times the criminal shoots, so he knows when the weapon is empty. These are really one of those moments when you start rolling your eyes, because you really can't get away with this in 2024. Shaw then runs hard into a car and with a big wound on his forehead, the blood also flows from his ears and that's it. A brief look at the hearing damage and the effects it has on Shaw and his career. When his former partner Doug Slater asks him for help with a deaf witness named Ava, Shaw agrees. It's a bit strange that in such an important case an agent is set up who is not yet really proficient in sign language and of course it doesn't click between Ava and Shaw, at least it's just as difficult to do, but a minute later she's completely over. She has incriminating witness material on a phone of a double murder and then a group of men enter the building to clear Ava out of the way.
The group of men turn out to be corrupt police officers, something Shaw very quickly finds out through the working method. It results in scenes in which Shaw and Ava have to flee from apartment to apartment through the windows of the building. They are one of those escape attempts where the enemy just looks away to see if everything is going well and they are not seen, to the point of irritating. Still, with all these criticisms, the film is somewhat entertaining. There are plenty of similar films to mention that may be better, but as a light snack, The Silent Hour is fine to stay. Fortunately, there is enough pace in the film, nothing is really stretched or dramatized, which sometimes happens with these kinds of films. The film lasts under the other half hour minus the credits and that's a long time for a film like this.
The Silent Hour is a light snack on a boring day. The film is full of clichés and is also extremely predictable. Even the big twist they want to give, you as a viewer already know how to guess after a few minutes in the film. It is a typical cat-and-mouse game where the tension can be built up based on the sound, by the viewer so you hear what Shaw himself hears. This is perhaps the most original thing about the film, but no masterpiece of the film was expected in advance anyway, so actually the film went in line with expectations. For the rest, the film runs smoothly and does not last too long. Because the pace is at a great level, the film looks nice and away, but to be honest, a trip to the cinema is definitely not worth it. Maybe if the movie ends up on a streaming service, this is still a watching tip on a boring afternoon when you have nothing else to watch or do.
