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April 07, 2003
The Caller
The last operational Phone Booth in New York City - the last bastion of non-cellular telephonic devices - is ready for its final call. When the mysterious Caller (Kiefer Sutherland) dials that phone booth's number one afternoon and catches Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) off guard, he sets into motion a flurry of chaotic events destined to lead to ruin.
Stu is no boy scout by any means, but is intelligent and quick on his feet. You'd have to be to end up a halfway-decent publicist like he is. But this call is unexpected, and the intentions of the Caller become apparent: he wants Stu to become a public spectacle through embarassment and ultimately death. The Caller delves into Stu's private life, which is the focal point of their conversation. He questions Stu's morality and marital devotion and demands compliance with all of his requests, many of which put him in mortal danger from hookers, bouncers, and police officers.
The Caller's strengths are numerous: he is well-prepared, careful, patient, and out of sight from the Good Guys. His choices of technology are well-suited and his choice of a target proves to be both worthy and entertaining. In essence, the Caller is much like a conscience or a voice of reason, but in this case, it's the aggressive militant kind. In another way, he's sort of like God, calling down from the heavens and demanding repentance. In the end, in a sense, Stu gets what he deserves, and the Caller may have saved a soul, but it certainly wasn't his own.
INTELLIGENCE - 8: The Caller is well-prepared and intelligent, and familiar with telephony and weaponry.
POWER - 6: A crack shot with a sniper rifle, he's willing to do battle from a distance only.
VILENESS - 9: Nobody's safe in the vicinity of his target - especially the target.
SWAY - 9: He's relentlessly intimidating, digging into you with sharp words and turning your own actions against you.
PURITY - 10: Once you become his target, he will never let you get away.
PHYSICAL - 1: The Caller's power is found on the other end of a phone, not in person.
TOTAL: 43
Posted by Destro at April 7, 2003 11:13 AM