Worth the watch this anti hollywood movie. It's very realistic and terrifying. Low budget but high quality.
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ivanmilkovic-987801 June 2019
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emgotm5 August 2019Number 1 > The STORY may be simple (some may say predictable at some points) but it is FULL OF REALISM. It may remind you a nightmare that you once experienced and you would never want that to be true.
Number 2 > Performances are very convincing. It makes you feel that you are in the two antiheroes' shoes. And believe me it is quite uncomfortable since their positions are EXTREMELY UNPLEASANT.
Number 3 > CINEMATOGRAPHY & MOOD is perfect; full of Scottish rural scenery.
Conclusion:
I would suggest not to watch trailers or various movie scenes and not to read anything about how the story unfolds. If you like intense thriller as well as Scottish village and woods scenery, just go for it. -
ben068 August 2020The thing that's great about this movie is the pace of it. Things very quickly escalate at break neck speed for these two friends leaving you wondering what one might do in that situation! Very very excellent film and worth a watch.
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classicsoncall18 February 2021I don't know if I could conjure up a more horrible predicament for someone to find themselves in than the two protagonists of this story. Marcus Trenton (Martin McCann) and Vaughn Carter (Jack Lowden) rekindle their childhood association with a hunting trip in Scotland, and almost right out of the gate find themselves in an impossible situation. Setting his gun sight on a deer, the reluctant Vaughn hesitates somewhat and pulls the trigger of his rifle just as the animal moves to reveal a young boy directly in the line of fire. When the boy's father comes upon the scene and reacts to the horror of his dead son, Marcus shoots him from a distance to protect his friend from being killed in retaliation. The cover up involves burying the bodies in the woods and attempting to appear normal upon heading back to the small village where they are staying.
Under other circumstances, the killing of the young boy would have been considered a terrible accident, and the shooting of his father might be considered a self defense move, but there's no way any part of this argument would fly in a close knit community down on it's luck from lack of employment and general poverty. Additionally, Marcus doesn't help his cause when he entertains a woman from the village with cocaine and sex, a volatile combination that would have been bad enough on its own if the horror in the forest hadn't happened.
The entire scenario creates an uncertain aspect for the viewer, because even when the men are discovered to have participated in the tragic hunting event, you don't really know what to expect in the way of punishment by the villagers. Led by a rational thinking leader of the small circle of relatives and friends of the dead victims, a solution is reached that appeases his neighbors, and spells doom for one, if not both men. For that though, you'll have to catch the movie, currently playing as a Netflix original as I write this. I thought it was a well written, nervy thriller that leaves one unsettled with it's final resolution and uncomfortable closing scene. -
fbabka1 July 2018Pretty good thriller. not sure what the negative reviewers are on about. the plot is solid, acting pretty good, If i had to nit pick i would talk about the way they talk, the strong accent is sometimes difficult to understand. but otherwise it's a gripping tale all the way through. i enjoyed it
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fmwongmd17 August 2020Engrossing film reminiscent of movie Deliverance. Well acted and well dramatized.
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evanston_dad11 January 2019One of those "men go into the woods and something terrible happens" movies that go all the way back to "Deliverance." This one is pretty good, especially given that this is I believe the director's first film. Two buddies, one alpha and the other more sensitive, are involved in a terrible accident that they then decide to cover up. The small village they're staying in gets wise and decides to deal with them vigilante style. The ending starts to get a bit contrived and you can feel the film straining a bit to deliver a finale that will shock, but the movie up to that point is taut and well acted, and it's entertainingly uncomfortable in that way movies are when you're watching protagonists dig themselves deeper and deeper into a hole they won't be able to crawl out of.
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A solidly written and acted Scottish Highlands thriller, Calibre gets so many things right. Jack Lowden absolutely kills it with his performance, showcasing the right emotions at the right time. He is ably supported by Martin, McCann, Tony Curran, and the rest. The film takes a fascinating look at suspicion and distressing guilt through its contrasting lead duo. Once it enters that harrowing zone, there's no looking back.
Writer-director Matt Palmer never loses his unyielding grip on the viewers, carefully mounting one thrill after another. Part of us wants the duo to escape because what they've done is accidental murder, but part of us also wants to see them pay for their deeds. It's this dilemma the writer-director successfully toys around with. Calibre is realistically grounded, never seeming implausible or ridiculous. That, coupled with the believable performances and Márk Györi's cinematography, makes Calibre a worthwhile thriller in my books. -
nowego29 June 2018Before watching this movie I came here and read the one and only glowing review and looked at the voting and saw that out of 43 votes 46% had voted 10. Unfortunately, based on past experience, a high rating with that few votes and one glowing review are normally huge red flags for me on IMDb. Vote rigging has become a big problem on here and I very nearly dismissed this movie based on these red flags.
Happily I ignored the red flags and sat down to watch what I thought might be a waste of time and got a very nice surprise.
Just about everything about this movie was as close to perfect as you can get, some of the cinematography was simply awesome, it made me want to be there. There are always going to be flaws and holes in the plot, but this simple story only had a few minor ones that didn't detract from the movie at all.
Tony Curran, I have seen many times before and I always expect good acting from him. Martin McCann, Jack Lowden, Ian Pirie and Kate Bracken did a really good job and their acting was of a very high standard along with the rest of the cast. All did a great job.
This movie tells a very real story with realism you only see in top end productions. It had me glued to the screen almost from start to finish, not many movies do that for me.
Highly recommended, but not for the squeamish. Even though there isn't really any over the top on screen violence in the movie, I still felt it was pretty gruesome. I really felt for the two main protagonists in places, but felt the ending was right.
Easily a 9/10 for me, 100 minutes well spent. -
badinfluence-218281 July 2018A lot of artistic license in this movie. Most people having experienced the rude behavior from the locals would not hang around for more. Especially would not canooddle at some night time beer drinking festival.
Other posters were confused by the 6.6 avg rating. The 6.6 is probably because of the movies some what predictability/
I would recommend watching it. I enjoyed it. -
This was an excellent movie. Tense and atmospheric from the start, you could sense from the beginning that something pretty dark was going to happen. I thought the acting was excellent from the entire cast especially the lead character. I really found myself feeling for these 2 characters and the very unenviable position they had found themselves in.... it was completely gripping and made for some uncomfortable viewing at times. I check all my Netflix choices on IMDB first yet have never actually left a review. Was surprised at the very average 6.6 rating so thought I'd do my bit to share what a fab film this is. If you like your movies tense, gripping & well acted go for it you won't be disappointed.
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The_nibs8 September 2020While I wholly appreciate this film's atmospheric tension, I found the story arc to be unfortunately predictable and somewhat unrealistic. I would've preferred to have seen more action between the family members towards the end, they seemed to really have polarizing viewpoints, yet they arrive at a (painfully obvious) agreement very quickly. I would've liked to see the decision making stretch out over the course of days with more dialogue, and more opposing view points. I especially wanted to see more from the girl (Iona?) whose character seemed to fizzle out towards the end of the movie, I felt like she could have had a lot to say about the situation but didn't. Speaking of the girls from the bar... I found it downright bizarre that a grown woman having sex and doing drugs is grounds for beating someone up and slashing their tires... Seriously. She's like forty years old! In summary, it felt like the film leaned heavily on violence to drive the suspense instead of intelligent writing and that was disappointing. The story had potential to be fleshed out more, it could've been great but came off as just okay. Still worth a watch but don't expect a whole lot from it.
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jbrock-5531515 November 2019I watched this movie on Netflix. I was looking for a drama under two hours and this movie popped up. Not knowing anything about it, I checked and after seeing all the positive reviews I watched it. Given these reviews I was disappointed. It is ok a movie, but very slow and quiet for a drama. While capturing the Scottish mood very well (I lived in Scotland for three years), I was expecting more tension, suspense, or thrills. The 'incident' that is at the heart of the story feels constructed and is unconvincing. While what follows works, this artificiality makes the whole movie unconvincing.
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TheNetherlands_122 November 2020The actors in this movie did a great job. However, some things were just really unrealistic. For instance the fact that they went on searching for the missing persons in the middle of the night, when it was really dark outside. Also, the fact that the family knew right away that the boys committed the crimes when the bodies were found.
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bettycjung14 July 20187/13/18. A typical let's-go-hunting movie when everything goes awry. Someone is killed accidentally, another is killed on purpose, and then you have the crazy locals who have their own brand of justice to serve. You should feel uneasy throughout over all the violence and creepiness. And, the ending was awful.
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bombersflyup23 March 2021Calibre is a decent film, with good tension and anticipation, though I don't agree with any of the decisions they make.
Firstly why leave your pregnant fiance to go on a hunting trip? Then burying the bodies, you should take them with you and leave immediately. If they can't find a body and they can't find you, they can't be certain of anything. Trying to act normal and maintain a routine is just asking for more trouble. They kept accepting invitations and agreed to help, the more time you spend in their company the more information you're giving them and the less chance you have. The characterization and leads could of been a bit better and the ending definitely didn't do that anticipation justice, but the film's entertaining enough. -
cheer884 July 2018This is not an impressed work without layers in it. The though of random crimes happened is plausible. But it alone is not enough to contrive a powerful story.
Before leading to fatal incidences, preludes were required. The lack of depictions of two main characters made those cruel scenes rather abrupt and incoherent. There are common traits of psychopathic behaviors would be easily deployed to explicate those inhuman actions.
This movie has shadows of "Straw Dogs". I did read Roger Ebert's review of "Straw Dogs". He disapproved how human mind was portrayed in that movie. Hence, he disliked it. I did not agree with him entirely because it did give me lasting thrills when I watched it in 70's. I was in my teens and movies did not have ratings then. I could feel distortions of such human behaviors might happen when certain circumstances were given. However, this one besides some uneventful incidences leading to abrupt murders, there were little traces of causes. It felt like psychopathic villains were everywhere in the movie. Of course, it was not supposed to be.
This movie somehow desensitized human cruelty. It is misleading. Without processes of human minds weakened the supposedly well thought out plots. The director intended to show audiences circumstances driving characters into acting cruelly. Nevertheless, that was all too simple without any insights of criminal minds. Good thrillers should have multiple layers of stories led to tragic ends. Violent acts should not be injected abruptly without any explanations. The storyline was somehow innovative but implementations were short of reasoning.
Understated human mind might be the problem of this movie. -
Surreptitious_Vin2 July 2018For some time now, Ive been watching these 'Brit' films. They are pretty refreshing and Id say its amazing what you could achieve on a mediocre budget. At probably a tenth of an A-grade hollywood production budget, they seem to be doing overly well especially on the horror and thriller genre. Expecting more of these gems for them in the near future.
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forthemovies13 January 2022Two friends Marcus (Martin McCann) and Vaughn (Jack Lowden) go hunting but things go awry when a tense situation occurs.
Calibre is a well written, thrilling film. The film was well paced and dramatic throughout the end. The film tells a tale of how far you will go to spare a life even if the person makes the wrong decision.
Calibre was full of suspense throughout every scene and elevated my engagement as the film drew closer to the conclusion. Martin McCann and Jack Lowden did a good job with their performances for their roles. Both showed the appropriate emotions through the close up shots on their faces throughout the film.
Overall a thrilling, suspenseful, dramatic film with a shocking conclusion. -
eighteendoorsdown11 August 2018There is not much wrong with this film and it deserves a better score than what it is resting on just now.
Two lads decide to go for a hunting trip in the north of Scotland before one of them becomes a father. When hunting a deer it all goes horribly wrong resulting in a confrontation with their emotions, morals and a close community who slowly become more suspicious of them.
All performances are very convincing and the plot is simple yet believable.
It's a great Scottish thriller that will have your hands arching over your mouth in shock. -
burlesonjesse524 January 2024"Go to the police? It will be considered murder". So says the character of Marcus in 2018's Calibre. He's probably right you know. I mean two strangers are dead and two other strangers who they came in contact with are alive. Bodies are moved, weapons are confiscated, no self-defense, crime scene is abandoned. Um, do the math.
Anyway movies like Calibre suck me in, they just do. We're talking swipe about ordinary people that unluckily commit an offense and find themselves tirelessly trying to get away with it. It's like a nightmare that well, you can't believe is happening. Calibre as a film combines the intense malfeasance aspect with beautiful cinematography a la the mountains of Scotland, UK. Its director (Matt Palmer) boasts a lot of tracking shots, medium shots, and wide-s via good old Jock country. Heck, he probably also saw A Simple Plan or even '72's Deliverance for some taut inspiration.
So yeah, here's the gist of Calibre: two childhood buds go on a hunting trip in the Scottish Highlands. Trip goes bad (har har) when one of them accidentally kills a human instead of a deer. Then said buds have to deal with the Mayberry townspeople when they get back to their hotel. These townies, well they're very prying blokes, asking questions and forming their own snarky, vigilante mob.
Animal stalking and boyhood besties aside, Calibre is a gnawing tort of a flick, intriguing, fiercely well-acted, and directed with a rather suppressed barbarity by Matt Palmer. I mean it mostly works until you realize that there are no law enforcement personas around. Nada, just these Scottish, denizen inmates who are clearly running the asylum (clearly). Improbable? Yeah, could be from a viewer standpoint. Advocated by this critic? Not entirely but I'm still recommending the thriller genre-recycled Calibre. "Livened ammunition". -
ubag6216 August 2019Very good but it makes you fel very uncomfortable .
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kirstenlynch27 March 2022What can I say about this movie? This movie was depressing and suspenseful.....Very good acting.
Very well written, original story, and is emotional... -
paraord7 January 2019Although beautifully filmed and well acted, the critical event that set everything in motion was contrived and unconvincing. From that point on, we found it predictable with an obvious conclusion. We kept hoping for a unique twist or plot development but alas, it just followed a well-worn formula.