PLOT: A ride-share turns into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse after it follows a car fitting the description of an AMBER ALERT.
REVIEW: As you can probably guess by the title, Amber Alert is going to be tough viewing for any parent. The sheer idea of the abduction of a child is rough subject matter. And when the film is taking a more grounded approach, it can be quite uncomfortable. And as much as the movie seems to want to make a salient point about kidnapping, it devolves into standard tropes at every turn. Despite releasing in 2024, Amber Alert feels like a narrative straight out of the 90’s.
The story follows Jaq and her rideshare driver Shane as they’re following a car described in an Amber Alert. Despite being strangers, they clearly have strong morals. Hayden Panettiere and Tyler James Williams play the concerned citizens and they have decent chemistry. There are times where it feels like they’re trying to spark a romance between the two, which feels very inappropriate given the situation. Thankfully it doesn’t lean into it further but it does make for a strange dynamic. But I was most impressed with Katie McClellan who plays the mother of the abducted girl. She sells the trauma and earns every bit of audience sympathy.
Amber Alert is the kind of film that you really have to check your brain at the door and just watch it strictly for entertainment. The more you pick it apart, the more absurd it gets. But I still found myself along for the ride. It’s an intriguing tale about child abduction. In an effort to keep the story going for an entire runtime, there are some really boneheaded story decisions. I understand that it’s very difficult to try and keep this kind of story going in a logical manner but it just results in Jaq and Shane looking really stupid.
It’s also very strange that they have this whole subplot with Shane missing his son’s birthday. They treat it like he’s clearly messed up before and this is par for the course. Yet all he has to do is just say that he’s helping the police out and that should completely clear up the confusion. Instead, because this is a movie and we need conflict, he just doesn’t say anything and instead leaves his son thinking he skipped out on his birthday. Williams is a very charismatic actor but stuff like this made Shane really difficult to like.
One of the dumbest moments comes when the authorities issue a falsely submitted Amber Alert update. This would never happen because, like highlighted in the film, it will cause other trails to go cold. This shows why you don’t send out plates for a non-100% confirmed sighting. Yet the film acts like there aren’t standard procedures in place to prevent this exact thing from happening, thus allowing another dramatic hurdle to overcome in the narrative. Comes across as sloppy writing. And I love that Shane and Jaq are the best option and are closer than any cop in the area. Outside of the call areas, the police may as well be nonexistent as they track this car for miles without police intervention.
Oddly enough, Amber Alert is actually a remake of a 2012 film from the same filmmaking team. So this is clearly a story that means a lot to them and they do treat it with care in its execution. The acting, editing, and cinematography are all fine. There are just too many logic leaps and silly moments contrasting with serious ones to not criticize the story. But it’s clearly got its head in the right place with its messaging. If only they’d let reality dictate the script versus the script dictating a false reality.
AMBER ALERT will release in select theaters and on demand this Friday, September 27th.