First of all, I personally think that this movie had a lot of similarities to the TV series 24: occurs in real time, picture-in-picture screens and of course, Kiefer Sutherland is in it. But what makes this movie so peculiar is that it deviates from most of the clichés you’d find in thriller movies nowadays. With a single setting, about a dozen worth of cast members and excellent storytelling, Phone Booth delivers by making the most out everything from the beginning to the end.

Synopsis: Stuart Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a self-serving small-time publicist who also happens to cheat on his wife (Radha Mitchell). To avoid getting his affair detected, Stu makes calls on the same time every day to a would-be-actress Pam (Katie Holmes), the lover in question who never knew of him being married in the first place. The calls were made in an old phone booth off 53rd and 8th, the last of its kind operating in West Manhattan. One day, on that regular New York afternoon, the phone rang up. At the other end of the line is a stranger who seems to know everything about Stu’s personal life. After having his affair revealed to his wife, a few foul-mouthed quarrels with bystanders, and a dead man, Stu now realizes that he’s under a hostile sniper situation, a killer watching him from one of the hundreds of windows above. He’s up against an anonymous man who’s willing to kill him if he does not confess his sins to everyone.

As things get worse, he’s also been framed for murder. NYPD and SWAT members have their weapons pointed to him in the phone booth from all directions, willing to shoot to kill at the slightest suspicion. A police chief (Forest Whitaker) tries his best to calm things down, negotiate and bring Stu out of the phone booth, but then realizes that something is amiss regarding the current situation. On the other hand, Stu also faces mind games and emotional torture from the psychotic sniper who forces him to obey his commands in order to save the lives of the people nearby. Eventually the day has to end and he has no choice but to see through it and hope that he could somehow make it out alive.

Overall, the movie was frenetic in pace and gripping in execution. With expertly done cinematography, the grim look to New York’s urban streets and its colorful inhabitants provide some of the thrills for this movie, especially during the beginning. Colin Farrell acted brilliantly throughout the course of Phone Booth, while Kiefer Sutherland adds to the suspense with his all-to-familiar but surprisingly sinister voice. And watch out for the awesome twist towards the end, it’s hardly one that you’re able to predict, and you’ll either love it or hate it but either way, you’d have gone through an extremely satisfying movie with a peculiar concept but was still done brilliantly. Give it a try.

- - FREEQZ