THE BELKO EXPERIMENT (2016)

Studio:       Orion Pictures
Director:    Greg McLean
Writer:       James Gunn
Producer:  Peter Safran, James Gunn
Stars:     John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, Adria Arjona, John C. McGinley, Melonie Diaz, Owain Yeoman, Sean Gunn, Brent Sexton, Josh Brener, David Dastmalchian, David Del Rio, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker

Review Score:

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Summary:

80 employees of a mysterious corporation are locked inside an office building and forced to murder one another.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

While driving into the Belko Industries office building in Bogota, Columbia, COO Barry Norris notices that armed guards are sending Columbian nationals home and only allowing American employees inside. As the workday wears on, employee Mike Milch additionally notes that the Columbian guards are assembling in a hangar located next to the building.

An unknown voice over the intercom makes an unexpected announcement. After identifying that there are 80 employees inside the building, the voice commands that two of them must be murdered within 30 minutes or else drastic measures will be taken. The building is suddenly sealed with impenetrable metal shields covering every window and exterior door.

Thinking the announcement is a twisted prank, employees assemble in the lobby as well as on the roof to find an exit and figure out what is happening. Barry tries calming everyone in the lobby, although Mike starts suspecting the situation is real. Maintenance worker Bud Welks takes a blowtorch to the metal doors, but discovers they won’t melt.

When the half hour expires, the heads of four random employees suddenly explode, sending witnesses into panic. Mike, Barry, and several others discover that the tracking chips implanted in their heads to prevent corporate kidnapping are actually bombs.

Mike frantically retrieves a box cutter and tries removing his implant. The voice commands Mike to stop with a threat that his device will be detonated if he doesn’t. The voice also commands everyone to stop disabling hidden security cameras.

Barry asks security guard Evan Smith to hand over the building’s armory keys for safekeeping, but Evan refuses. Stoner Marty Espenscheid and Chet Valincort go through the building overturning water bottles under the mistaken belief they are laced with psychotropic drugs.

With 76 people remaining, the voice explains that everyone has two hours to kill 30 employees or else 60 of them will be executed. Employees argue and start splitting into factions of those who are against the idea of any murder at all versus those contemplating killing as the only way to survive.

As tensions rise, maintenance worker Alonso ‘Lonny’ Crane caves in Bud Melk’s head with a wrench. New employee Dany Wilkins witnesses the unplanned murder and Lonny attacks. Dany fights back and kills Lonny.

Mike and his girlfriend Leandra Flores argue over what to do. Mike, Leandra, and Evan find Barry trying to blowtorch his way into the armory’s gun cabinet with Terry Winters and Wendell Dukes, a perverted employee who thinks Leandra is in love with him. A standoff ensues until Mike uses Evan’s gun to shoot the hose off the blowtorch tank, preventing access to the weapons.

Mike helps Keith McLure and other employees hang SOS banners from the roof, but guards on the ground shoot at them. The voice commands the banner hanging to stop, but Leandra still has to pry Mike away with the help of Vince Agostino.

Mike concludes that everyone has been part of an elaborate experiment since they were all first hired. Leandra counters that the idea seems impossible.

Barry knocks Mike unconscious with a fire extinguisher and leaves him in a stairwell, citing that Mike is dangerous. After a confrontation with Leandra, Wendell stabs Evan when he refuses to give up the armory keys. Evan dies and Barry takes the keys.

Barry collects several handguns, gives one each to allies Antonio Fowler, Terry, and Wendell, and instructs the men to herd everyone into the lobby. Wendell also collects Mike.

Barry has his men separate employees into one group of people with children under age 18 and one group of people over age 60. Realizing that the age 60 group is not large enough, Barry begins selecting random individuals for extermination, including Mike. Wendell immediately executes a man who resists.

Barry begins executing each selected employee in a methodical line. Before Barry can get to Mike, Dany hears the commotion from the basement and cuts power to the building. Panic ensues in the resulting blackout as employees flee and the gunmen shoot wildly. Formerly meek employees overpower and kill Vince.

While employees hide and Barry and Wendell search for more targets, the voice reminds that only two minutes remain to murder one more person. To protect herself, Leandra attacks Terry with a paper cutter blade, but is unable to kill him.

The voice announces that the timer expired. With the kill quota not reached, the heads of 31 employees are suddenly exploded.

For the final stage, the voice explains that whoever has the most kills at the end of one hour will be the winner. Barry and Wendell immediately resume their killing sprees. However, Barry becomes temporarily trapped in an elevator when the body of Roberto Jerez becomes caught in the shaft.

Leandra finds Marty and Chet collecting bombs from the unexploded heads of executed employees with the intention of trying to destroy a wall. Desperate to reunite, Leandra makes an announcement over the speaker for Mike to meet her on the first floor.

Wendell enters the room. Leandra shoots Wendell, but runs out of bullets. Wendell uses his own gun to kill Marty and Chet. Leandra takes an ax and uses it to cleave Wendell’s head.

Mike and Leandra regroup downstairs. Vince sends them on the run by igniting the lobby with Molotov cocktails, but Mike makes sure to put the bombs in his pocket first.

Barry arrives in the lobby, kills Vince, and wounds Leandra. Dany descends in the elevator and Barry executes her too.

While hiding, Mike and Leandra profess their love for each other. Leandra dies from her wound.

Mike and Barry have a hand-to-hand showdown. Mike ultimately wins by beating Barry to death with an oversized office tool.

The voice congratulates Mike on being the last remaining employee of Belko Industries. Armed guards collect Mike and escort him to the hangar’s control room. There, Mike meets the man behind the voice, who explains he is gathering data as part of a social scientist study on human behavior.

Mike reveals that he secretly hid a bomb in the pocket of everyone who recently touched him, including the voice. Mike races to the control room switchboard with buttons labeled for each employee and detonates the bombs, killing the guards and the voice’s assistants. While dying, the voice claims that it isn’t in Mike’s nature to be a killer. Mike angrily executes the voice with an assault rifle.

Mike exits the hangar and steps into daylight. The camera pulls back to reveal that Mike’s building was only one of many all over the world where similar experiments are taking place.

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Review:

What would happen at your office if every door and window suddenly shuttered with impenetrable metal and an unknown voice on the intercom demanded a handful of murders or else even more people will die?  Who would you turn to?  Who might you turn on?  Would you be secretly pleased to see Dave from Accounting get what he has always had coming to him?

Save for that last one, these are questions facing 80 American employees at the Belko Industries building in Bogota.  COO Barry Norris and middle manager Mike Milch sensed something strange when they noticed Columbian nationals being sent home early by armed guards.  It starts making more sense why those same guards then assembled in the hangar next door, although everyone is under an initial impression that someone is playing a sick joke.

76 employees quickly figure out the “kill or be killed” command is very real indeed when the skulls of four coworkers suddenly go boom.  It seems the tracking chips implanted in their heads to protect against corporate kidnapping are actually remote detonation bombs.  When the voice returns with his next instruction, everyone now knows stakes are deadly serious.

This presumed prank is actually an elaborate experiment whose second scenario is simple.  Kill 30 people amongst yourselves or Belko will choose random victims and double that number to 60.  Time has come for everyone to choose sides over how best to survive.  The ultimate outcome is uncertain.  Whatever the unknown endgame is, it’s going to be a bloodbath getting there.

It’s somewhat surprising that was a 250-word summary since the setup of “The Belko Experiment” is really quite simple.  The film has been described as “Office Space” meets “Battle Royale” and that is exactly it in a nutshell.  90 nearly nonstop minutes of madness showcase the sinister social experiment turning John and Jane Lunchpail into “Lord of the Flies” savages, who cave in coworkers’ heads with axes and shoot each other in the face.

That’s a low road approach to suspense entertainment.  However, James Gunn’s script, Greg McLean’s direction, and a cast in top form elevate gory thrills with sly style.

Gunn and McLean are well aware that their ongoing assault of violence puts energy at an unrelenting peak.  Thus a dark joke, usually tied to relatable workplace humor, is placed here and there so viewers can pause to come down before things get graphic again.

With over a dozen featured employees playing notable roles, many characters only have brief moments to make a mark.  That’s why it’s essential that “The Belko Experiment” bring in bigger guns like Michael Rooker and John C. McGinley for bit parts or support.  Their personalities add immediate weight to characterizations that the script just doesn’t have time for.  Without the seriousness John Gallagher Jr., Tony Goldwyn, and Adria Arjona bring to the lead trio, the story might sink under its inherent absurdity.

On occasion, “The Belko Experiment” captures some of the claustrophobic chaos created when a blinding blackout sends terrified men and women into mad scrambles for an exit.  Mostly though, it’s a lot of people panicking and pleading for their lives punctuated by explosively outstanding effects keeping the casualty counter ridiculously high.

There’s no doubt that “The Belko Experiment” moves terrifically and its tension is tight, yet there is a Chinese food effect leaving stomachs rumbling after end credits roll.  The film has a frenzied flavor that feels fine in the moment, but the end to that elation brings a realization that there isn’t much lasting taste to the meal.

It’s as if the filmmakers had 85% of a great idea for action-horror spiked with black comedy and, unsure of how to build up the background with substance, patched over the other 15% with the notion that they’d at least make it look cool.  And that they did.  This leaves “The Belko Experiment” as a midnight movie crowd-pleaser of boldly bloody proportions.  But without any underlying method saying something about the madness, there is little point to the proceedings other than serving simply as outrageous entertainment.

Review Score:  65

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