I've been a fan of Sam Raimi ever since I was introduced to Evil Dead back in the 80's. Sam went from producing, writing, and directing the world's first successful horror-with-bits-of-comedy to becoming one of the most sought after directors in the world. Some would say that being selected for a Spiderman film was the thing that really pushed him to the forefront.
He does what he is told by producers on the bigger projects but I think the man truly shines in films where he is able to do what he does best and that is over-the-top gore fests or in the case of Send Help a relatable story that has some elements of gore involved in it.
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The film starts out in a way that I guess a lot of corporate American can relate to. A socially awkward but hard-working woman named Linda Little (Rachel McAdams) is mistreated at work and generally not liked by her coworkers even though she is basically the heart and soul of the company. It is sometimes due to her own cowardice that she gets bypassed in the advancement of her career. When the son of the head of the company she works for get promoted to CEO due to her father's death, she is in the belief that she is going to be promoted to VP as was promised by the father. However, the son Bradley (Dylan O'Brien) is more of a man's man and immediately takes a dislike to Linda because of minor things such as her having a bit of tuna from her sandwich on her face and something stuck in her teeth. Bradley plans to promote another man's man who he is buddies with to the position, completely bypassing Linda.
Linda finally stands up for herself and is invited along to Bangkok for a company merger and she jumps at the chance even though the main reason why she is being invited along is so that she can do all the work while the boys go and "play."
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She ends up accidentally discovering that the others on the trip have zero respect for her when she takes out her headphones and discovers that her coworkers are joining in to mock her because of her video submission for consideration on the TV show Survivor. We are given hints that Linda is a survivalist by books on her shelf and her obsession about surviving in the wild by a few, really creative shots done by Raimi earlier on in the movie.
Remember what I have said about how I prefer "show" over "tell?" Well this is what I am talking about. There was no narration in this film at all and we didn't need to be told that Linda was a survivalist, a few panning shots were all it took. This is why Sam Raimi is a great director.
While on the private jet to Bangkok, the plane crashes and I have to say, outside of perhaps Cast Away with Tom Hanks, this is the finest cinematic portrayal of a plane crash into the ocean that I have ever seen on a screen. The terror that overcomes you as the plane is sinking in the ocean is palatable and extremely well done. Another reason why Sam is one of the best.
Screengrab, sorry, best I can do
Linda and Bradley end up washing up on a secluded island and we see a very stark version of role reversal since Linda is exactly the sort of person that you need in this sort of environment and Bradley is all-but-useless in doing anything outside of an office. I think this is a good reflection of most people in real life today and I don't include myself as an exception.
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Linda excels at this, she even so much as thrives in it whereas Bradley has to be taught how to do everything and even then he does mostly everything poorly. Linda relishes this role reversal and punishes Bradley the same way that he would have punished her back in the office. It is because of this that she actually works against them as far as being rescued is concerned.
The gore parts? Well I don't want to spoil any of those for you because they are pretty damn gruesome and very Sam Raimi-ish. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it and to some people it might make them a bit squeemish. I really enjoy this sort of thing so I smile and applaud (in my empty living room, sadly) when I see this sort of stuff on screen. I was a little bit disappointed to see that Sam was using a bit of CGI because practical effects have, in the past, always been his modus operandi. Maybe there just wasn't enough time. Who knows?
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There starts to be some level of feelings between them and their characters kind of evolve over the time they spend on the island together without being rescued. Again, I am not going to spoil this but it isn't exactly what you might expect. Raimi doesn't do romance.
There is a little bit of downtime in the middle of the film because even though I love Raimi, I'm not going to give anyone credit for using filler in order to force a movie to the pre-determined 90 minutes that is apparently necessary in Hollywood, but there is a great deal of unnecessary crap that happens in the middle or the 2nd act of the film.
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This movie didn't really have a great deal of some sort of "message" or "lesson" that we are meant to learn form it all, it is just pure entertainment. The role-reversal is fun though, especially if you have even been in a position where you had an overbearing and arrogant boss at some job.
Should I watch it?
Well, This film wont be for everyone because it is quite blood-filled and that isn't actually even essential to the story, that is just what Sam Raimi does and it is a big part of the reason why people love his films. Just like how people enjoy M. Night films because of the twist and it wouldn't be the same without that aspect, Raimi's film are truly made his own by the existence of superfluous violence and gore.
If you enjoyed Cast Away, this is basically the R-Rated version of that film without the feelgood aspect of it. It is more of a mix between that if you mixed in a good Korean revenge thriller aspect. I liked it a lot but I did find myself looking at my phone during the aforementioned dead space in the middle. But let's be honest here, how much can you really do on screen in relation to 2 people stuck on a deserted island.
I think they did a pretty good job with this one and I recommend it only if you are not the kind of person that gets turned off by gore because there is quite a lot of that in this.
I will say this though: I think the ratings on online review sites are inflated for this one probably because of the fanbois of Raimi who are giving it a couple of points more than it actually deserves.
You cannot stream this anywhere for free right now and honestly, they are charging too much to rent it at $25. Because it is 20th Century it will land on Hulu or Disney after a certain amount of time