2012 Review #10: ATM

ATM

Rated R

1 Hour 30 Minutes

Starring

Brian Geraghty

Josh Peck
Alice Eve

Story

On a late night visit to an ATM, three co-workers end up in a desperate fight for their lives when they become trapped by an unknown man.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:

NA

My Grade:

D

**this review will contain major plot spoilers, do not read if you have not seen the film**

For me, 'ATM' is as stupid as a movie as the title suggests. I usually love to watch movies like this, and I like to give them a chance because sometimes you will find a gem. However, I have to say that this film is no gem. It follows three young people who find themselves trapped inside an ATM...vestibule...or whatever you want to call it, while a masked (and jacketed) man stalks them on the outside. This man comes out of nowhere to torment the three friends and he even kills a stranger on the outside. Yet, he won't approach the front of the ATM or attempt to go in. Meanwhile the three amigos sit inside freaking out wondering how they will get out and are concerned they may freeze to death by the time morning hits.

I'm not here to question the believabilty of the film. You all should know I don't care about that crap. If they had done this or that like a person in real life would do, then this movie would have no reason to exist...which might have been a good idea. But I am entitled to question some of the characters behavior. OK, so initially they park a good 50 feet away from the ATM, and this is done because the good friend is deliberately being a jerk to the 'bad' friend because he is ruining a potentially fun evening with his lady friend. I get that part, but the good friend is forced to go in the ATM, why doesn't he just pull right up to the front of the kiosk so that HE doesn't have to walk through the cold? He leaves his lady friend that far away in a dark parking lot? Then SHE gets out and still doesn't move the car, even though the keys are right there. This would not have altereed the course of the movie that much...I don't know, it just bothered me.

I also didn't get the killers ultimate motives. The final scene basically reveals his plan. He stalks out ATM's beforehand, he figures out the camera angles and how far out he needs to be to not be spotted by them. The movie ends with the bad friend (Josh Peck) and the lady friend (Alice Eve) dying and the good friend (Brian Geraghty) is left alive. The ATM camera footage only shows the good friend going crazy, killing that janitor (who was an idiot for not saying anything or noticing the bodies piling up outside or the HELP sign on the window), what looks like him killing Josh Peck, and just going insane. So I think, OK, so this masked maniac set this up to screw with these random strangers in the ATM, have them kill each other and let one of them take the fall and get arressted. It's genious because he's not on camera. Except...there are actions that occur outside the ATM while all 3 friends are inside that were caught on camera. Such as the 2 cars being rammed into the front of the ATM, and the water being poured into the ATM from the back. If it wasn't for the good friend smashing the ATM screen and damaging the camera, all that stuff would have been caught on said camera, and showing there was as third party on the outside.

So while the end of the film suggests this unknown assailant was very meticulous about not getting caught, he seemed to do a lot of things on the fly while out at the ATM. Things that were clearly unplanned and severely risked him being caught. He/She didn't know the inside camera would be destroyed at the time it was. So now I wonder what the hell his/her real intentions were? At some points in the movie, he was trying to break in from the back. To do what? Snag them from behind? Steal from the ATM's? Did this guy's plan backfire? Was he trying to get them to off each other? I mean, this is the main plot point of the film but it's never clearly explained.

If that wasn't enough, I could not stand the actors in this movie. Josh Peck was the only decent enough, performance wise, but even he wasn't really that good. His character was just annoying. Alive Eve was just no fun to watch. Maybe her character was supposed to be in shock, but the whole time she was so deadpan about every line she delivered. She didn't seem to be stressed or terrified most of the movie. People are dying around her and she came off as calm as if she couldn't deliver any other emotions through her performance. Brian Geraghty was a total spaz and his facial expressions were just amusing to look at.

To me, ATM could have been a decent horror flick, but there were just to many flaws with the masked man and his motives. Not everything has to be spelled out and clear cut to make a good story. But this is a case where they tried to do that, but it didn't work out. At least not for me. I thought the movie was stupid and dull and lacked any interesting qualities. Just the opinion of one man though....don't shoot me.