‘Send Help’ Is A Tale About Revenge and Living Your Best Life
3.5/5 'Survivor' references
The world loves an underdog. And right now, when the gap between the privileged and the few continues to grow, we relate more than ever to the person who has been working hard, only to find themselves at the mercy of corporations who don’t care about the value you provide.
Sam Raimi’s Send Help, a gloriously bloody romp on a deserted island in the Gulf of Thailand, isn’t shy about making its statement. The rich get richer, whether they’re qualified or not, leaving us to fade into a penniless obscurity where we watch reality TV shows alone with our pets (which sounds greta, really).
Raimi has returned to form, reminding us why we love his films like Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell. Throughout its runtime, Send Help is both campy and grounded. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien are a delightful duo, even though O’Brien is playing the kind of C-suite jackass many of us are too familiar with.
Linda Liddle (McAdams) is a corporate pawn on a chessboard full of many who has just been passed over for her rightful promotion. Liddle is that mainstay worker in every office, the one who is just a little too eccentric, a little too involved in her work.
Bradley Preston (O’Brien) is Liddle’s new boss (and the son of her former boss, who has just passed away). Preston is cocky and demanding. He chooses a less-qualified friend over Liddle, which leads to Liddle joining him and his team on a private plane to Bangkok to finalize a business deal. Of course, that deal never happens, and the morning after the plane crash on the island finds Liddle and Preston the sole survivors.
Annie Wilkes if she was on Survivor
McAdams plays Liddle’s journey exceptionally. Back on the mainland, she’s a nobody who works in Strategy & Planning (this is important), but here, she’s the only one who can save them both. An avid Survivor fan, she is the one who is able to gather food and water, and assist Preston with his injury. The callbacks to the popular reality show are genuinely delightful, and do provide some good laughs.
O’Brien, on the other hand, slips into his role as the image of douchey corporate greed easier than anticipated. Preston is a man who has never had to work, and who has never actually suffered. He refuses food, water, and shelter, until he has no choice but to crawl to Liddle. This is the first of many instances where his own pride has to take backseat to the need to survive.
As the days pass, the once-frumpy Liddle blossoms into a confident, self-assured woman. She has found her place here. She is needed and useful, and for once, those above her cannot look away from or appropriate her work for themselves. Though, as Liddle reminds Preston, there are no bosses here.
Send Help can seem obvious where it’s going at times, but that does not make it any less joyful. Damian Shannon and Mark Swift dig deep into the sort of loathing those of us in corporate America experience every day and gives us a fantasy we never knew we needed.
Imagine Lost, but unhinged
This is also a story that explores power dynamics. Out here, their roles in the office don’t matter. Liddle revels in her newfound power. As the weeks drag on, Preston starts to become wary of her. Though they both dislike the other, Liddle isn’t the kind of boss he was, she likes to remind Preston. And it isn’t like either of them are innocent: Straits become more dire, and the duplicitousness becomes stronger.
Though not particularly gory, Send Help doesn’t shy away from the blood; unfortunately, however, much of it is CGI. That is ultimately just a minor issue, as the CGI does work. Raimi is known for his practical effects, so it would have been nice to see it come into play here as well.
The story itself is rounded out with genuine moments between the characters, like a scene on the beach at night where they talk about their pasts. It reminds us that human connection is a priority among us for a reason. When times are bad, we need to know we’re not alone. And being stuck on a remote island with your monster of a boss is definitely bad.
(featured image: 20th Century Studios)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
