Socially awkward and frumpy Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams), is a numbers wizard and eagerly looks forward to her promised promotion to V.P. Following the passing of the President and subsequent appointment of his son Bradley (Dylan O’Brien).
Linda is outraged when she is passed over for the promised promotion by a younger and very inexperienced individual who is a Frat Brother of Bradley and often takes credit for Linda’s work.
In an uncharacteristic outburst, Linda challenges Bradley who tells her she simply does not have what it takes and plots to send her off to another locale after using her for an important business meeting in Asia as they know her work is vital to closing the deal.
On the private plane to the meeting, it is discovered that Linda auditioned for Survivor and the assembled team mocks her for her goofy yet earnest audition. When the plane unexpectedly crashes and Linda and Dylan are the only survivors, one expects that Linda who has significant survival skills will use this opportunity to try to win over Bradley.
However, the reality is darker as both characters have layered motivations that twist and turn throughout. Bradley is initially dependent on Linda for survival but soon suspects there is more to their situation and plots to escape. Linda seems content with their lot in life and appears to be trying to win Bradley over to her points of view.
It is here that the movie takes a much darker and unexpected series of turns as character motivations and sympathies can change rapidly making one question whom they should be pulling for and who is the real villain of the narrative. Raimi keeps things twisting until the very end and does not go for the usual Hollywood crazy psycho solution and creates a more complex yet satisfying outcome.
The two leads do great work, and the movie had me hooked from start to finish and was a very pleasant surprise.
4 stars out of 5
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