’96 Minutes’ follows a carjacking gone terribly, terribly wrong

Director Aimee Lagos presents a rather effective thriller in 96 Minutes, the new movie from ARC Entertainment that recently arrived on DVD. Following the wayward journey of four 20-somethings, the flick puts Murphy’s Law in action, and the consequences are deadly.

Carley (Brittany Snow) is just about ready to graduate from college and enter law school, even though she doesn’t receive the support of her father. She’s studious and rarely goes out for a night with friends. Lena (Christian Serratos), Carley’s friend, is able to get her to open up a bit in these last few days on campus. Dre (Evan Ross) has a good heart, but he’s always in the wrong place at the wrong time. His best friend is Kevin (Jonathan Michael Trautmann), a violent screw-up with a sour relationship with his mother and the hopes of joining a gang one day.

All four of these lives are brought together when Kevin and Dre unexpectedly carjack Carley and Lena’s vehicle. “Unexpectedly” is the correct word, because the timeline for 96 Minutes moves back and forth between the past and present. We’re not entirely sure how things transpire. We see the build up to a particular scene of violence, and then we cut right to the aftermath. Other times, it’s vice versa. We’ll see the result of some argument that’s grown out of control, and then we flashback to see how the conversation escalated into violence.

Lagos is an adept director with a keen eye for drawing impressive performances from her young cast. Trautmann, in particular, holds much of the film on his back. He truly embodies Kevin, reading the lines of dialogue with a detached immaturity, just like the character would do in real life. The plot feels a little far-fetched, but his performance is spot-on.

There’s also some nice work from Ross, who seems like a good guy stuck in bad circumstances. However, Carley lets him know that his actions (and inactions) are inexcusable and inhumane. As the night descends into further violence, with Kevin getting increasingly out of control, Dre never puts on the brakes, never stops and thinks about his actions, never tries to rescue Carley and Lena from the clutches of this mad man.

The end result of 96 Minutes doesn’t add up to much. It feels like an inferior version of Crash, trying to tell us something deeper about crime, race and friendship. Although Lagos is able to orchestrate the story line with much finesse, the director is ultimately undone by her weak screenplay. The first 20 minutes of the movie plays like a bad high school comedy, with the jocks showing up late to class and everyone looking like a model from a fashion magazine. It’s only when the story kicks into gear, when the focus comes down on just four people, that 96 Minutes proves interesting and engaging.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• 96 Minutes

• 2012

• Written and directed by Aimee Lagos

• Starring Brittany Snow, Evan Ross, Christian Serratos and Jonathan Michael Trautmann

• Running time: 95 minutes

• Rated R

• Rating: