Director James Mark has been active in the indie action space for over a decade: a career in stunt work and choreography leading to Kill Order, his debut blend of sci-fi puzzle box with super-powered martial-arts action. Subsequent follow-ups explored crime family action-drama in On the Ropes and another science fiction actioner in Enhanced, and his latest straddles both worlds. Control makes effective use of its micro-cast and (mostly) single-room setting, but a final act meant to act as pay-off only frustrates and raises more questions than answers.
Still, for about 2/3rds of its runtime, Control commits to the intrigue of captivity and challenges; Eileen (Sarah Mitich) awakens in a sound-proofed room sans memories but with a computerized voice that commands her to move the pencil laying on a nearby table. Her unseen minder renders her unconscious, she awakens to a new pencil test, repeat…except now chained at the waist. With such a stripped-back narrative, the first act benefits from having Mitich in the lead, her sense of confusion and anger, as well as her coiled physicality, going a long way to keep the repetitive structure from growing stale.
Haunted by memories of a daughter and tormented by increasingly impossible tests, it’s not long until Eileen starts displaying talents familiar to anyone who’s seen Mark’s other sci-fi films, and that’s when Control introduces another face. George Tchortov’s mysterious Roger initially offers a jolt of puzzling intrigue: is he another test subject? Is he truly Eileen’s estranged husband as he claims? But a bland performance and clichéd marital friction only serves to undercut the test-chamber tension and dampen Mitich’s intensity.
With its confined premise and claustrophobic focus, Control is James Mark’s attempt at a psychological thriller compared to his far more action-heavy previous films. But the final act finally unleashed the director’s well-crafted talents for violent set-pieces. Evolving from Cube to Carrie, Control jolts to life as it throws heavily-armed guards at Eileen for Mark to relish in the gory and striking possibilities of body-snapping telekinetic brutality.
Unfortunately, it’s during these back-loaded 20 minutes that the film thrills and flounders the most. Freed from a repetitive structure, each confrontation grows more creatively grisly, yet as the plot nears its end, there’s a dawning sense that there’s only so much time left for the film to explain itself. A sci-fi puzzle narrative often lives or dies by its culminating reveals, shining a light on why these strange tests and twists have occurred. Control just doesn’t stick that landing, opting for vague wait-that’s-it? answers that seem like an attempt at a clever final reveal as much as a matter of budget limitations. It’s a frustrating finish to a film whose hooks and action felt like they could’ve paid off but instead wrap up in an unsatisfyingly abrupt fashion.
Control is an admirable albeit flawed evolution of James Mark’s genre filmmaking, still delivering some of his familiar bloody carnage but functioning as more of an enigmatic thriller. Despite a solid lead, early intrigue, and late action, this felt like a misfire by the end.
Photo courtesy of Saban Films
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