3.5/5
Review by John P. Harvey.
Romantic action thriller Drop features widowed mother, Violet (Meghann Fahy), a psychologist who leaves her young son, Toby (Jacob Robinson), in the care of her sister, Jen (Violett Beane), for a first dinner date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar), a man she has met through a mobile dating application.
Violet and Henry’s dinner is booked at high-class restaurant Palate. It’s set to be a pleasant evening, if they can keep their over-sharing waiter, Matt (Jeffery Self), at bay. Once settled at their window table on the umpteenth floor and with the ice thawing nicely, Violet begins receiving odd DigiDrop messages that Henry realises must be from somebody in the restaurant, somebody whom Henry gallantly attempts to locate using his own mobile phone.
These intrusive messages become steadily more sinister, trapping Violet into destructive acts in order to protect her son’s life, until finally the sender demands another’s life in exchange for her son’s.
Drop has much to recommend it: a story containing good lines, action, and a few twists; great acting; great lighting. Granted, the film contains several unrealistic moments. As well, some lines in the early restaurant scenes were difficult to pick out, seemingly due to some flaw in audio processing, and use of the vernacular of mobile file-sharing and dating applications didn’t assist. But these were fleeting distractions.
The story moves along very well. Its major protagonist, Violet, responds with surprising imagination and initiative to the increasing threat to her son’s life, and, as her likeable love interest and co-protagonist, Henry plays a credible support role. Experienced actors, Fahy and Beane deserve more exposure in large roles, and I think it likely that we’ll meet them again.