Send Help
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (out of 5 stars)
Most fans would know director Sam Raimi for his brilliant reintroduction of Spider-Man to the big screen. While the devoted fan would know his dark side, which has delivered some of cinema’s legendary horrors with a comedic twist, such as Army of Darkness and Evil Dead. After another brief excursion in the Marvel Universe with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Raimi returns to his horrific roots with a twist on the survivor theme.
Rachel McAdams (About Time, Game Night) portrays the put-upon, unassumingly brilliant office worker Linda Liddle, who is overlooked for promotion by her arrogant boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O'Brien). Until she is given another chance at career redemption during a business trip to Bangkok that turns tragic as the plane crashes into the ocean after take-off. The incompatible pair are the sole survivors and find themselves on a deserted island. Thankfully, Linda is a survival expert, and the tables turn on their societal roles as she does all she can to keep them alive. Yet something sinister lurks behind the palm fronds for both executives as they survive and hope for rescue.
One thing that Sam Raimi does well is tap into expressing the heart of mankind through the outward expression of graphic violence. His stars take on each role without abandon and prove that no one is above the corruption within. McAdams abandons her nice-girl image and seems to relish the visceral transformation of Linda Liddle. O'Brien becomes the master of manipulation and shows the audience that some people just cannot be changed. Both actors manage to capture how nasty prejudices can be in infecting the heart with hatred's poison.
Initially, this tale pays a twisted, dark homage to Romancing the Stone, until the hearts of both people involved are exposed. Still, the shifting power struggle between McAdams and O'Brien's characters is a fascinating exploration of the human soul, revealing how power tends to corrupt even the best of intentions. In amongst Raimi's graphic portrayal of survival, the true marvel of this film is the unmasking of humanity's viciousness when it is given absolute control over others.
Not a film for the faint of heart or those sensitive to extreme violence, there is still something compelling about this film's overall message. Send Help is less romance and more reminiscent of The Lord of the Flies in the realm of extreme office politics played out on a deserted island.
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Reel Dialogue: The darkness of the human heart
The darkness of the human heart is exposed to extreme measures in Send Help. This theme shows why wickedness can manifest in different ways. Sometimes with villains, sometimes with heroes, or as seen in this story, which proves to be a pressure cooker that brings together two characters who look disturbingly like us.
The team at Reel Dialogue likes to remind our readers that evil rarely arrives with horns and fire; more often, it slips in quietly through pride, fear, envy, or the need to justify ourselves. Movies like Send Help expose what we already sense deep down: under the right pressure, the line between "good people" and "bad people" blurs quickly. The most unsettling stories aren't about monsters out there, but about what's lurking within, waiting for permission.
Interestingly, films can only diagnose the problem—they can't cure it. While the Bible goes further and speaks with unnerving clarity: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9). The Bible doesn't flatter us.
Still, it also doesn't leave us without hope. Yet, you don't have to live without hope as you watch stories about broken humanity. As you wrestle with the bigger question: Is there an answer to the darkness we keep seeing on screen and in ourselves? The challenge is simple—and uncomfortable—open the Bible and see if it tells the truth about you… and whether it offers a redemption no film can fully imagine.
