“Amber Alert” Is A Thriller About Kidnapped Girl, That Keeps You Alert (At Most) | Review

Every country has its troubles, I guess. In countries at war, the residents are used to red alarms, indicating a missile, rocket, or other disaster waiting to happen. In the United States, about 800,000 children are reported missing every year, with one child going missing every 90 seconds. Although in the vast majority of cases, the child is going back to the custody of their parents safe and sound (or one of the parents, if the kidnapper is one of the spouses), there have been many, many terrible cases throughout history. One gave rise to the “Amber Alert,” which gave rise to a thriller that overall does the job and manages to be enjoyable despite its terrible subject.

“Amber Alert” follows two strangers who follow a suspicious vehicle after they receive an Amber Alert and suspect that a kidnapped girl could very well be hiding inside. Despite some problems with the story’s credibility and the pace, thanks to actors who know their job, an atmosphere of tension, and a few compelling scenes, the film justifies its hour and a half.

What Is An Amber Alert?

Before discussing the “Amber Alert” movie, let’s explain a few things about this alert and usages. Amber Alert (SAME Code: CAE) is an emergency alert about possible child abduction. This procedure is mainly used in the United States but has also reached some European countries.

The main principle is that when there is a very reasonable suspicion of the kidnapping of a child, people who are in the relevant geographical area will receive an alert on their mobile device, even if it is in silent mode. The alert will include details of the incident, especially the type of suspected vehicle, its license plate number, and the missing child’s description (usually with a photo) so that drivers who notice the car or the kidnapped child can contact the police as soon as possible. We learned that in such cases, every second can differentiate between a happy ending and a catastrophe.

This alert sent to mobile phones and different platforms, like billboards, relevant television channels, radio stations, internet and satellite radio, GPS navigation software (in the United States), emails, and other mediums that will increase exposure, assuming that every minute that passes could be devastating.

When Did Amber Alert Start?

The Amber Alert is named after 9-year-old Amber Rene Hagerman, who was kidnapped and murdered in Texas in 1996. According to the guidelines, for an Amber Alert to be issued, four key conditions must be met:

1. Law enforcement authorities have declared that an abduction has occurred.
2. The child is at risk of serious injury or death
3. There must be a sufficient description of the child, the abductor, or their vehicle.
4. The child must be under the age of 18.

In practice, as seen in the film plot we are discussing, not all four conditions are met. In 2023, for example, we saw “Ezra,” a moving drama about a divorced father (Bobby Cannavale, excellent as usual) who opposes the authorities and his ex-wife’s (Rose Byrne) treatment of his autistic son after he is expelled from school because of a violent incident. The father wants to transfer him to a special education institution and goes on a trip with him to Los Angeles. During the film, the authorities decide to issue an Amber Alert even though it is not confident that there is a real risk of harm to the child.

Want to get into the mood? Here’s the rather stressful sound of the Amber Alert. It could very well be that the goal here is a stressful sound that will enter the parents’ nightmares.

Amber Alert Plot: The Nightmare Of Every Parent

“Ambush Alert” was directed by Kerry Bellessa from a script he wrote with his work partner, Joshua Oram. It is a kind of remake of the film the two made in 2012, also called “Amber Alert.” The low-budget, Found Footage-style film was about friends who notice a car that looks very similar to the one that appeared in the Amber Alert they got while driving, so they decide to follow it.

It’s hard to say that this film left a mark – as evidenced by the fact that it currently has a score of 4.4 out of 10 on IMDB, according to ratings from only several thousand viewers. Still, Bellessa realized that there was a story here that he could tell better today after about 12 years, during which he directed only one other film (the horror thriller “Immanence” from 2022, about radio astronomers – there is such a profession – who hear a mysterious signal in the middle of the ocean and suspect that it is aliens).

Here is the trailer for the very noisy “Amber Alert” from 2012 (note: this is not the version that this review deals with):

“Amber Alert” in its current version looks like an improved version of the same kidnapping story, in most respects. In the film’s very effective opening scene, set in Kentucky, we meet Monica (Katie McClellan, who has so far appeared mainly as a voice actress in “Fresh,” “Mister Glass,” the 2022 version of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and two “Scream” movies), who is in the park with her mother and her three children. While the adults take pictures on their phones and play with the baby and the older children play hide-and-seek, 8-year-old Charlotte (Ducky Cash) disappears. The worried mother manages to see in the photo she accidentally took a dark car with an open door, with Charlotte standing next to it. Monica does one and then another and realizes that someone kidnapped her daughter.

Hayden Panettiere (“Heroes,” “Nashville,” and, of course, Kirby Reed in “Scream 4” and “Scream 6”) plays the lead role of Jacqueline, or shortly Jaq, a young woman about whom we honestly don’t know much. On the very day of the kidnapping, she calls a taxi but is delayed because she is a woman and misses the ride. Frustrated, she runs into a driver named Shane (Tyler James Williams of The “Walking Dead” and the sitcom “Abbott Elementary”) and manages to use her charm and the money she has to convince him to give her a ride. He says yes, even though he has finished his shift and is in a hurry to get his son’s birthday party because he must bring him games and meet him after divorcing his wife.

You can see where this is going from this point. In a somewhat unusual move, the officer in charge, Sgt. Phil Casey(Kevin Dunn) decides to listen to the desperate mother’s pleas and the determined emergency dispatcher’s (Saidah Arrika Ekulona) request: he activates the Amber Alert, even though the police don’t have the license plate number of the black Camry, which also happens to be the best-selling car in the United States.

It’s a decision that could create chaos because we’re looking for a needle in a haystack, but anything is possible in the cinema. The alert reaches the two strangers during the drive, and Jaq begins to suspect that the car stopped next to them at a traffic light, speeding away when the alert appears on a billboard, is the kidnapper.

The Mystery Behind Amber Alert Movie

The two decide to follow the car, starting a fun game of cat and mouse. This game maintains a reasonable level of tension for the most part and includes a few effective scenes. As is tradition, both sides – the potential kidnapper and those following him – make significant mistakes along the way, even if it is to their credit that their level of intelligence and improvisation is high compared to many characters in thrillers of this type.

You may have something to say about the functioning of law enforcement agencies, at least in some cases, but between us, it is already too trite to criticize the police in American films. Every time we get real characters who behave like people and not just caricatures of “good cop” and “bad cop,” we have to thank the gods of screenwriting. Or, at least, be forgiving of the fact that the police here, as usual, do not precisely function efficiently. At a certain point, it seems that the police would rather sit in the office with popcorn and see if the determined couple can do the job for them because there are not many cops, and they are swamped.

Alongside the central question of whether the two will be able to catch the guy, the other question arises, and that is to what extent they are right in their suspicion: Yes, including a scene in which the two meet the guy who suspects them, but a specific element in his story makes them remove suspicion from him for a few moments because he is probably not the one. I felt pretty sure about the direction the characters were going, and the film generally aligned with that and didn’t raise too many questions, even if there were some nice twists and turns along the way. The trailer reveals some of them, by the way, so watch it with caution.

Is Amber Alert A Scary Movie?

Happily, a few scenes took the film in the direction of our favorite genre, mainly around the discovery of the kidnapper and the actions he does to the children when he brings them to a specific location.

However, the horror was (unfortunately?) pretty implicit. Don’t expect a horror film from the book here, especially since the movie is rated PG-13. What you will get instead is a thriller, some would say a suspense drama, with a few moments of horror that are reasonably scary, mainly around every parent’s worst nightmare – losing their child, literally. On the other hand, there were a few instances where I felt like the film was going in the clichéd direction of “scenes that should be in this type of thriller,” as evident in the characters’ behavior.

Not A Roller Coaster, But It Has Ups And Downs

As of this writing, I have not found information about the exact budget of “Amber Alert.” Nevertheless, a very educated guess is that the budget is relatively low, even if it is much higher than that super low-budget film of the same name from 2012. The same applies to the film’s grossings, which were screened mainly on television and various streaming media and less in theaters.

If you’re expecting action sequences complete of flipping cars, you should lower your expectations: This isn’t a Michael Bay movie, for better or worse (well, primarily for better). “Amber Alert” is pretty “economical” with its budget, and you can see that during the chase and in the scenes that follow when the characters arrive at a house where we get some answers to the main question mentioned above.

In general, my feeling was that the film was a bit leisurely concerning the situation presented in it, like perhaps the difference between riding a roller coaster in real life and watching a video of a roller coaster on TV, or if you prefer, driving at 100 km/h, on a road that can also reach double and triple speeds. The film does not stop momentarily, but certain parts are too slow. I would have been happy if they had extended and improved the scene of the characters’ fight with the villain, whoever he may be because this part of the film was rushed

The characters behave logically, but at times, perhaps too logically about the situation (and I don’t mean just the two heroes supposedly following the kidnapper).

The Cast Of Amber Alert: The Strongest Link?

I haven’t seen any films by director Kerry Bellessa yet, but he shows a pretty skilled hand here. In contrast to the choice (probably, the lack of choice) of Found Footage style in the first film, the cinematography of Luka Bazeli does the job of building tension and presenting the complexity of the situation – exceptionally high and wide shots from a drone, which emphasize the difficulty of the characters in their pursuit – even if you won’t find anything too exciting or original here. The director wisely chooses to stick as close as possible to the characters among all the open spaces and roads. It creates a sense of claustrophobia in two people inside their closed situation, with minimal outside help.

The script of “Amber Alert” is generally entirely credible but a bit “furry”: it’s hard to say that there were too many far-reaching innovations or original aspects that I would take with me further, both in the general idea (we’ve already seen several films based on chases, even on the road. Not to mention kidnapping films) and in the level of specific scenes.

The development of the characters in the “Amber Alert” movie is a bit lacking. During the film, we discover some details about the two protagonists, mainly about their history with children (which should increase their connection to the situation and improve our identification with them). However, there was room to create more complete characters or use a little less manipulation to create this identification, which, for me, felt a little artificial under these conditions.

To the credit of the actors and the script, they did manage to convey the process they go through as a couple on a mission. This is not something romantic, God forbid, but two strangers with a shared fate and interest who cooperate in a rather impressive way and learn to trust each other. Their chemistry improves throughout the film, and the dialogues are mostly believable. It starts like a conversation between a driver and a passenger, with humor in the middle (and, thankfully, without petty politics and conversations like “So what do you think about Donald Trump”?), and develops into a deeper acquaintance.

Panettiere and James Williams do a great job, not for the first time, and their casting improves the film by several degrees. Especially Panettiere, who combines assertiveness, emotion, vulnerability, and a bit of humor. She is imposing in a dramatic scene about her past that we will not reveal here. In other words, it is a scene that might have been possible without it, but Panettiere makes the most of it.

Should You Watch Amber Alert Movie?

Ultimately, “Amber Alert” is a film that does the job and is very suitable for casual home viewing. The film focuses on an important film, which, although it somewhat spoon-feeds us its message about the importance of the alert, still raises the issue of awareness. It also shows, consciously or not, that there is a particular problem in the alert, such as the possibility of misleading the entire country with a single phone call or that this method may reduce executive responsibility from law enforcement agencies.

Even if Ambert Alert is not the procedure in your location, we, unfortunately, have a thousand and one reasons not to take our eyes off our children even for a single moment and to pay attention to every suspicious case on the street or the road. If the film manages to raise awareness of this even minimally and even be entertaining in the process, who are we to object?

Amber Alert – Everything You Need To Know

Year: 2024

Director: Kerry Bellessa

cast: Hayden Panettiere, Tyler James Williams, Katie McClellan, Ducky Cash, Kurt Oberhause, Kevin Dunn, Saidah Arrika Ekulona

Screenplay: Kerry Bellessa, Joshua Oram

Run Time: 90 minutes

Country of production: United States

Language: English

Release date (United States): 9/27/24

Budget: Undisclosed

Worldwide Grossings: Undisclosed

MPAA rating (Parents Guide): PG-13

Reviews score:

IMDB: 6.0

Rotten Tomatoes: 63%

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