Black Site

Have you ever watched a movie where your primary reaction is feeling sorry for everyone involved in the project? I know actors need to work to pay their bills, but surely everyone here could have found something more dignified. Perhaps porn or selling autographs at a fifth-rate convention? Really anything would have been better than Black Site.

The film is centered around a CIA Black Site housing the world's most dangerous terrorists. The facility works in conjunction with ally nations who are given a token prescience here but it's clear who runs the show. Michelle Monaghan stars as a promising analyst who loses her family in a hospital bombing and becomes second-in-command at the prison searching for answers.

It takes a third of the movie for the story to really get going with the arrival of a new prisoner (Jason Clarke) who escapes and begins slaughtering everyone inside. It's here the movie becomes more of a slasher/thriller at least up until the point where things go sideways and it becomes a nutball conspiracy drama that doesn't make a lick of sense given the objective would have been immensely easier to achieve had our baddies waited just three days.

Jai Courtney co-stars as a contentious military contractor whose bad decisions help get everyone killed. He's far from the only one, including a moment where our soldiers and trained analysts simply lets the mass-murder our of the interview room because he's wearing a mask. Gee, I wonder if he might be the bad guy? The plot is continually burdened by the oldest cliché of characters continuously making bad choices allowing the escaped terrorist's job to become all to easy.

We are also given a countdown where our heroes, led by Monaghan, must retake the facility or face a drone strike that will wipe them out. The countdown turns out be overkill as the threat is already inside the facility and having a pretty easy time killing off anyone he damn well pleases. Had the movie stuck to more of a classic thriller, thrown out everything but the hunt and fight to stay alive in the facility, Black Site would likely still have failed but at least the script would have steered into the only that thar resembles a strength. Although the straight-to-video tale ends by setting up a possible sequel, I doubt there's anyone who would want to see this storyline continue.

Watch the trailer

• Title: Black Site
• IMDb: link