Control is a 2022 Canadian science fiction mystery thriller film about a woman who finds herself locked in a stark room and given challenges.
Directed by James Mark (Enhanced; On the Ropes aka Betrayal; Kill Order) from a screenplay co-written with Matthew Nayman. Produced by Tony Del Rio and Bruno Marino. Executive produced by Sy Baek, Plato Fountidakis and Emerson Wong.
The High Star Entertainment-Kemodo Entertainment co-production stars Sara Mitich, George Tchortov, Evie Loiselle and Karen LeBlanc.
Plot:
A mother locked inside a stark room is tasked by an unknown voice to complete increasingly difficult challenges if she wants to save her daughter’s life.
As the frequency and intensity of the tasks threaten to overwhelm her, she must piece together half-remembered chapters of her life before imprisonment if she wants to secure her freedom, rescue her child, and escape this waking nightmare…
Reviews [may contain minor spoilers]:
“Director James Mark uses the location well. Creating a slowly unravelling mystery which never fully allows itself to be solved. There is a strong lead performance and enough tension to keep you on the edge of your seat. The ending may be a little unsatisfying for some, but Control is an intelligent, entertaining and innovative sci-fi.” Backseat Mafia
” …when the action eventually kicks in, it is certainly a welcome distraction. That is until the same action sequence is essentially repeated another couple of times in straight succession, but with some very minor tweaks here and there. The ending, while introducing some interesting ideas and resolutions to the story, also felt a little underwhelming.” 3/5, Cinechat
“Mitich is solid in the increasingly defiant lead role and it’s efficiently made, but, at this stage, the premise feels like old hat – and we’re reminded that Cube itself owed a major debt to much older works, including episodes of The Twilight Zone. Control will soon blur with all the recent movies with identical set-ups in your mind…” Horror Screams Video Vault
“Stories like this almost always grip, though this particular entry doesn’t have any particular new wrinkles – performances (especially by Mitch) are good and it has a nice look, but after a year or two it’ll be hard to pick out…” The Kim Newman Web Site
“Control is a horror thriller that sees a character locked in a room, needing to complete tasks. It has all the trademarks of Exam, Cube and even a little Saw minus any of the gore. The room itself is designed to be everything from a nightmare. It does all ask a question about psychic abilities and what people can unlock from them.” 3/5, Movie Reviews 101
“Mitich, best known for the Star Trek: Discovery series, is excellent and cinematographer Russ De Jong and director Mark (who co-wrote with Matthew Nayman) do plenty with a very reduced mise en scène. Plenty, but never quite enough to really blow your mind.” Outside Left Field
“There’s something so pleasing about a trip that even keeps the watcher out of the loop. The mystery in the film will keep you searching for clues, and you may feel like you’re running in circles by the end, but that made the journey that much better. I love having to connect the dots myself, and this film was full of opportunities to do just that.” 4/5, Overly Honest Movie Reviews
“As it turns out, Control is quite a decent idea but it doesn’t actually completely deliver. There are some good sci-fi related scenes with our main characters skills but it does become drawn out even in just the close to 90 minutes it goes on for.” 2.2/5. Which Film
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