Wrecked (2011) (Movie Review)

Wrecked (2011) So…I haven’t read or found anything positive about this film. And yet I liked it. Far from being a masterpiece, but far from being a bad film. Halfway there. Francophones (non-Quebecers) thought it wise to call this film Lost Identity. Funny ! Michael Greenspan was not a favourite with the public. After making this film, he made Kill for me (2013) with the duo Katie Cassidy & Tracy Spiridakos, but that was apparently his coup d’grâce. He seems to have disappeared after that. Kill For Me must have been even less successful.

I found all these negative reviews about this film:

1) “Sleeping pill: The film is a one-man show that drags on indefinitely and at no point manages to create suspense. The best part of the film? The end credits!”

2) ‘Well, for a single viewing, the film is okay. So it’s better to rent it than buy it. You could compare it to Open Water (of course, that film doesn’t take place on water).”

3) “Boring. Definitely not to be recommended. Anything but ‘gripping’ as the cover suggests.”

Reading all this again, I think people feel lost as soon as they step off the beaten track. As soon as something is different, something deeper, that’s it, they’re lost! Then, of course, there are those who only want extreme violence and gore, otherwise it’s not a good film. It’s sad, but also pathetic!

For me, “Wrecked” was a solid thriller. Following a seemingly tragic accident, a disoriented man (Adrien Brody) is trapped in the wrecked vehicle in the wilderness, his fellow passengers deceased. Plagued by amnesia and severe injuries, he grapples with distinguishing reality from delusions while he reconstructs the chain of events that led him to this situation, ultimately uncovering a startling truth about his own sinister potential.

Admittedly, there are moments of boredom. But the unbearably suspenseful action is not what the director wanted to show. It’s more a demonstration of the fact that time would indeed pass very slowly if we were condemned to die of wounds, without food or water.

What’s more, once again Adrien Brody shows us his talent, which has been unproven since The Pianist (2002) and The Jacket (2005). He was also the most surprising and sympathetic character in Summer of Sam (1999). Unfortunately, it’s not with films like The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) or King Kong (2005) that you realise he’s a great actor. He’s also a pleasure to watch in The Thin Red Line (1998) and Predators (2010). I also loved Bullet Head (2017). Well, there are still plenty I haven’t seen, like Houdini (2014), for example, or Love, Marilyn (2012), The Experiment (2010) or Splice (2009). This film is well worth seeing once, in any case.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again one day. The pity is that it’s a bit confusing in terms of the hallucinations and the story, which leaves some questions unanswered. But I liked the ending.

My Rating