Calibre (2018)

Slow burning thriller with excellent cast - Calibre review by AER

This British thriller is a cut-above your average - this is thanks to a plot that side-steps genre cliches and offers up realistic, real world characters thrust into outlandish circumstances. We've been here before in films like Straw Dogs and Deliverance where city folk clash with rural folk - but in this case the locals are given colour and an intelligent script digs deeper than presenting us with cartoon killer farmers. In fact, our heroes are nothing of the sort as they try anything to save their own skin and cover their tracks after covering up an accidental death by killing someone else. The behaviour of our heroes is abominable and it's a miracle that Jack Lowden's young city dweller gains any audience sympathy. But he does because his friend played by Martin McCann is utterly barbaric and self-centred. It's a slow burner to be sure but Calibre serves up a different tale from other similar films in the same genre. You'll be torn who to root for and the story's resolution is far from clear-cut. Recommended if you are looking for a drama with a bit more substance than you'd expect.