Recently widowed mother Amy Carr is doing her best to restore normalcy to the lives of her young daughter and teenage son in their small town. As she's on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son's school. Miles away, on foot in the dense forest, Amy desperately races against time to save her son.... (Full plot summary below)
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Recently widowed mother Amy Carr is doing her best to restore normalcy to the lives of her young daughter and teenage son in their small town. As she's on a jog in the woods, she finds her town thrown into chaos as a shooting takes place at her son's school. Miles away, on foot in the dense forest, Amy desperately races against time to save her son.
Leave your thoughts about The Desperate Hour.
| ObserverSiddhant AdlakhaThe filmmaking works in and of itself, but that Lakewood feels so emotionally in tune with its lead actress is a feat all on its own. |
| Film ThreatHanna B.In the end, I’m not sure if thriller, drama, or action would be best suited to describe Lakewood. Maybe it is not quite the edge-of-the-seat movie one might expect, but it is entertaining enough to keep one fully engaged. |
| Screen DailyAllan HunterDirected with brisk efficiency by Philip Noyce, the mix of adrenaline-rush emotion, manipulative melodrama and moralising is surprisingly entertaining in the moment. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreAnd “iPhone ad” or not, watching Watts power through this picture with nothing jogging togs and Apple’s pride and joy has me sold. Maybe I’ve bought my last Android after all. |
| Paste MagazineAurora AmidonThe Desperate Hour, while consistently entertaining and confidently boasting a tight, no-frills script, fights too hard to explain that it does not exist purely by virtue of it being a fun kind of story to tell. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Johanna SchnellerThe chance to say something new or revealing about school shooters is squandered, and all the urgent reality runs out. |
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDesperate Hour is well-intentioned, and there are flashes of genuine dramatic tension, thanks to Watts’ performance. Mostly, though, it feels contrived and heavy-handed, with nothing really new to say about this well-traveled subject matter. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleEven if the idea of The Desperate Hour makes you uneasy, you will be engrossed by it. |
| Original-CinLiam LaceyAs the film progresses, the idea of using a school shooting as a subject for a thriller feels deeply ill-conceived, undermining the gravity of the subject it attempts to address. |
| PolygonOli WelshWatts is fantastic in the film. She excels at desperation and confusion, and she knows how to show naked, raw fragility while disclosing an iron inner strength that’s almost frightening. The film depends on these qualities completely. |
