As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that She has a much more sinister plan in mind. She has been planning to kill Hannah for years, and has even made preparations. In the letter she wrote to Hannah, she reveals that she has been working on a poison that will kill anyone who comes into contact with them. If Hannah is able to find and antidote before She kills herself, then the poison will not work and everyone will be safe. However, if Hannah is able to find and antidote before She kills herself, then the poison will kill her as well and everyone will be dead.
Hannah’s daughter Vee has been abducted by Phillip, her abusive ex-husband, and she wants Lou to use her tracking skills to hunt him down. Lou agrees, not only because she has found a renewed purpose to live but because she has other reasons to help Hannah that don’t become clear until later in the movie.
Lou, with the help of her dog Jax and Hannah, sets out into the forest in search of Phillip and Vee, a task made difficult by the storm that has hit the island. ..
The second half of the movie, unfortunately, is much less exciting. The group begins to lose members and morale begins to drop as they face seemingly insurmountable odds. Foerster does a poor job of keeping the viewer engaged and the film’s climax is anticlimactic. ..
Lou and Hannah narrowly escape death when the heavy rainfall and rising flood waters cause their car to become submerged. They are then taken in by two men who work for Phillip. While Hannah stays behind, Lou approaches the cabin pretending to be a frail old woman who has lost her way. The men are initially suspicious of her but just as they let their guard down, Lou uses a pan of hot soup and the sharp end of a tin can to take them down. Watching Janney topple these heavies is a cathartic delight but sadly, this is where the fun stops. ..
The movie starts out strong with a bloody encounter in the cabin. However, the rest of the running time is spent exposition-heavy and bogged down in domestic plot elements. The climax is exciting but overshadowed by the slow-paced build up to it.
The film’s plot is weak and its characters are uninteresting.
As a retiree who’s been kicked around by bad guys for years, Lou is a missed opportunity. The actors all give good performances but they are under-served by the complicated script. If this was simply a movie about a retiree kicking bad guy butt during a one-woman mission to rescue an abducted girl, it would have been a lot more fun. Janny certainly has what it takes to convince as an older action hero so it can be considered a massive disappointment that she wasn’t given many opportunities to focus on this side of her character.
It’s possible that a sequel rights this movie’s wrongs. The ending certainly sets itself up for a follow-on movie, so if it is ever given the green light, I hope the screenwriters give us the female equivalent of Taken that Lou initially appeared to be. It could even co-star Judi Dench as a malevolent villain and feature a climatic showdown with her and Lou pummeling one another into submission. That would be a good movie and far better than what we have been given here, which is a letdown for both Janney and the movie’s audience.
In a move that stunned the baseball world, Lou Gehrig announced his retirement on Wednesday. The Babe Ruth-like slugger, who played for the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1939, had been struggling with health issues for some time and was in the final stages of a long decline. Gehrig’s retirement comes as a surprise to many because he had always said he would retire after the 1945 season. In an interview with reporters prior to his retirement announcement, Gehrig said he was “a little bit tired” and that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
